Accomplices
by Willow-Bee the Cat
Summary: Hermione’s curiosity about precisely how Voldemort survived becoming disembodied leads to surprising places. And that changes everything. Or, Hermione is given an impossible task and Itachi makes a friend his family would not approve of. Non-Massacre AU
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I neither own nor make a profit from Harry Potter or Naruto.

Rating: T for the moment, may go up.

Spoilers: Everything for both Harry Potter and Naruto. There will be a lot of Naruto related spoilers. As for HP, there will be horcruxes.

Pairing: Eventual Hermione/Itachi

Timeline: Begins right after the end of the first Harry Potter book. Begins two years before the Uchiha massacre (which would make Naruto six, if you keep track of time that way)

Summary: Hermione's curiosity about precisely how Voldemort survived becoming disembodied leads to surprising places. And that changes everything. Or, Hermione is given an impossible task and Itachi makes a friend his family would not approve of.

Author's Note: I originally intended to make this story Hermione/Itachi, and I have ideas on how to do that. That said, I've wavered on the pairing but I think this will definitely be Hermione/Itachi

Secondly, I've certain theories on just why Hermione acts the way she does. Those will be explored within this story, along with the idea of family and family bonds.

Thirdly, no matter how they act, I just can't bring myself to believe that Homura, Koharu, and Danzo form some sort of axis of evil directly opposed to Sarutobi. Rather, I think Danzo is both patriotic and very power hungry and that his methods are simply horrific. As for the other two… no matter how nostalgic he is Sarutobi would never have allowed them to be his advisors without reason. They have to have redeeming qualities of some sort, though you may need to dig deep to find them.

Fourthly, about names… I know some of the characters have surprisingly Western names. This will be explained either over the next couple of chapters. I promise, it does make sense.

* * *

Chapter 1

Hermione tilted her head to the side as she considered the books before her. School had only let out a week before and already Hermione had finished her summer homework. The twelve year old let out a sigh. Since her family was to spend the summer in France she'd only one day to look around Diagon Alley before they left. They'd not be back until the end of August.

Laodice Granger had given Hermione twenty pounds to buy herself a birthday present before they left because she knew quite well her daughter would want to buy some books to read while on vacation. She looked through the section carefully, searching for a book on something to do with ghosts and spirits. Or perhaps possession. Most of the books didn't seem to contain much useful information at all. But finally, she found a text on the dead. Hermione could only hope it would prove useful, though she was rather sure it would not.

Ignoring the strange look the clerk gave her, Hermione bought the book and slipped out of the bookstore. Noting the amount of money she still had left, Hermione carefully considered where to go next.

With a sigh of annoyance, she pushed her wand back down. It had begun to slip out of the pocket of her skirt yet again. Perhaps she should see if there were wand holsters or something. Admittedly everybody she knew kept their wands in their pockets or bags or some other convenient spot, but there had to be a better way. That decided, she set off toward Ollivander's. Even if Mr. Ollivander did not carry something like that, surely he would know where to look.

Hermione paused at the door, looking to see if Ollivander was with a customer. Good, nobody was there buying a wand. The last thing she wanted was to make a customer rush-though she rather doubted anything or anyone could make Mr. Ollivander move any faster than he wanted.

Book in hand, Hermione stepped into the store. She glanced around, looking for Mr. Ollivander. He had to be in here somewhere-after all, the sign had said open. She fought the urge to jump when she realized he was next to her. How had Mr. Ollivander done that?

"Vinewood and dragon heartstring, 10 ¾ inches. Particularly suited for curses and wards. Is there a problem, Miss Granger?"

"No, Mr. Ollivander. My wand is working quite well."

"Then how may I help you?"

"I was wondering if you carry holsters for wands or something similar." Hermione bit her lip nervously. "I keep worrying that I'll drop my wand or loose it and I was hoping you would know of something which would help me."

"I've not had somebody ask me for a wand holster in well over a decade," admitted Mr. Ollivander. "Most Wizarding keep their wands in specially made pockets in their robes and holsters are provided as part of the Auror and Hitwizard uniforms." He paused, seemingly thinking. "I believe I might have something in the back which could work. Wait here."

With nothing better to do, Hermione sat down in the only chair. Upon realizing that Mr. Ollivander was not returning any time soon-after what felt like ten minutes of waiting-Hermione opened the book and began to page through it, skimming it for any useful information. The book, it seemed focused on history and characteristics of various creatures, such as inferi and dementors. It was not precisely what she had wanted, but it was certainly an interesting book.

Halfway through the chapter on poltergeists-that certainly did explain a lot about Peeves-Mr. Ollivander returned. Hermione slipped her receipt in to mark the page and closed the book.

"Here we go, Miss Granger," said Mr. Ollivander.

Hermione took the proffered item. It was certainly a holster of some sort. Carefully, she began to examine it, noting the shape. It was two long strips of leather sewn together with cut outs through the upper layer for something long and relatively thin to go through. Obviously the wand. There was a metal ring in each corner and one in the middle of each of the long sides. Along with the holster were roughly a dozen pieces of leather of various lengths with buckles on one end and holes on the other and a harness of some sort which looked to be adjustable.

She smiled up at Mr. Ollivander. "Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for. How much does it cost?"

"Ten sickles for you, Miss Granger. Like I said, there's not much call for wand holsters. I'll throw in wood polish, leather polish, and cleaning rags for a full galleon."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." She handed him a galleon.

He reached into a desk and pulled out two different bottled, a couple squares of cloth. Mr. Ollivander took the holster and straps from her hands and put them on the squares of cloth along with the bottles. With a few quick movements, Mr. Ollivander tied the cloths about the bottles and leather.

"There you are, Miss Granger. Do you have a basket?"

"Sorry. I didn't think I'd need one."

"It's no problem." He stared at her for several long moments before Hermione realized he was looking at her book. "May I ask what your interest in so advanced a book is? Certainly you should not be covering such information in class yet."

"I-" Hermione looked down. "I'm trying to figure out how a person could survive having their body destroyed. Or how a person could be possessed by a spirit. I'd thought this book would be more informative than it was, but… it doesn't seem to precisely cover what I'm looking for. Nevertheless, it is rather fascinating."

"You are Muggleborn, yes?"

"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?" She was, she supposed, Muggleborn in every way that counted. Of course the entire label was something of a misnomer. But now was not the time to get into misleading semantics.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?" he asked.

"No. Not yet."

"This conversation could take a while, and I believe our time would be best served if we were to eat whilst speaking. The Leaky Cauldron serves excellent food. I will, of course, pay."

"I-alright. Thank you," Hermione said after a second of thought. Mr. Ollivander did not seem to be the sort to do something without reason. Perhaps he knew something about what she wanted to know.

Hermione stayed out of the way as Mr. Ollivander closed the shop and put an "out for lunch" sign in the window. She stepped outside as he locked the door, parcel and book held in her arms. Part of her worried that perhaps Mr. Ollivander intended something untoward, but she was well aware that if that were the case, it would not occur in a place as populated as the Leaky Cauldron.

The duo soon entered the Leaky Cauldron through the brick archway. Mr. Ollivander nodded toward Tom the barkeep. "We'll have two lunch specials and two butterbeers."

"It'll be right out, Orestes, miss."

"Thank you," said Hermione.

"We'll be in the back booth," explained Mr. Ollivander.

Orestes Ollivander? Hermione fought the urge to show a reaction to the name. Though she often claimed to be named for the character Hermione in A Winter's Tale, she was in fact named for the Greek Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen of Troy. It seemed that Mr. Ollivander was named for the son of Agamemnon, Menelaus's elder brother.

Hermione followed the elderly man to the back of the main room where a lone booth sat. It looked no different from other booths, a table and two bench seats with walls on three of the four sides. But Hermione noted that the booth to the left of it was next to the stairs and the booth to the right was rather close to the large communal table.

A moment after Mr. Ollivander sat down Hermione sat across from him. She put the objects in her arms on the seat between her and the wall. A moment later the barmaid brought over a tray with rolls, two bowls of beef stew and two mugs of butterbeer. She put them on the table along with spoons, gave Mr. Ollivander a small curtsy and left.

"There are some things, Miss Granger, which most Wizarding do not speak of. The information you were searching for is among that," explained Mr. Ollivander as he dug in to the stew.

"I didn't know."

"I know you didn't." Mr. Ollivander let out a sigh. "That which you were searching for is considered to be a branch of necromancy."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's not, but you cannot be expected to know what you were never told."

"But what if you needed the information?" the twelve year old asked, having to come to the conclusion that Mr. Ollivander was somebody trying to help her.

He stilled. "Why do you need the information?"

"What if I were to say I saw a man possessed by the spirit of somebody who supposedly died ten years ago?"

"Why not go to the Aurors?"

Hermione looked down at her stew. She was not stupid by any means. What had happened at Hogwarts should have resulted in the Ministry's involvement in some way, but somehow Dumbledore had managed to keep the troll incident and Quirrel's death quiet.

"The Aurors are not an option."

"Then you, Miss Granger, have a problem. Necromancy is quite illegal and to even speak to a necromancer would be enough to get you imprisoned for quite a while."

"Oh." Hermione was silent for several long moments as she ate. "Perhaps, could you tell me why it's illegal?"

"To know why necromancy is illegal, one must first understand the history of the Wizarding," explained Mr. Ollivander. "The first true member of the Wizarding was the Amazon Queen Otrera. It is from her daughters that the Wizarding are descended. Otrera was the first person to use magic. In particular, she used magic revolving around life and death. From her use of magic in this matter came both the healing arts and necromancy."

"Professor Binns mentioned her, but he never actually explained that. He only really talked about how she ended the War."

"Of course. Because to do otherwise would be to soil Otrera, a woman more revered than Mab or Nimue or Merlin amongst the Wizarding. As the centuries passed healing and necromancy evolved and new magical arts were born. But one thing remained the same; healing and necromancy was the sole realm of women. Eventually this taboo was broken and men were permitted to learn necromancy and healing. It began in Rome, when Romulus learned necromancy and Remus learned healing at their mother's breast."

"I thought they were raised by a wolf…"

"According to the Muggles, yes. But she was in actuality a wolf animagus. There have always been those who abused the first arts, but it was not until wizards began to learn it that the arts radically changed. Originally, healing was more based on homeopathic cures combined with skills Muggles did not learn until the past millennia. Over the past several millennia, much of that has been lost or changed. Necromancy originally centered around helping spirits move on or allowing family to speak to their dead or dealing with demons and so on. Then came Baba Yaga and others of her ilk who perverted the art until things such as inferi, ghouls, and dementors were born.

"As you can guess, the Wizarding reacted badly to this and healing came to be greatly regulated while necromancy was banned outright." Ollivander took a swig of his butterbeer. "There are some who still practice the traditional arts, but they are few and far between. Of course these people are nearly impossible to find."

"Oh."

Hermione bit her lip. At least now she knew. But that did not change the fact that she was rather sure that Voldemort was not done with Harry. That he would come after Harry time and again until one of them was finally dead.

"Thank you for telling me this," Hermione said as she used her roll to clean the bottom of her bowl. "You were a big help. I never would have learned any of this without you."

Mr. Ollivander was silent for several long moments. Finally, he said, "Wait a moment. I believe I know of a book which could be of some help to you. Gwynafar's had a copy of it when last I checked."

"Gwynafar's?"

"Walk into Knockturn Alley. Make the second left. It will be the fourth shop on the right. If anybody there asks, tell them I sent you." Mr. Ollivander pulled out a piece of parchment and a piece of charcoal. He quickly wrote something down. "This is the title and author. It will be in either the arithmancy or the potions section. Wait." He pulled the parchment back and wrote a second name. "This book would be useful to you as well."

"I-thank you… but isn't Knockturn…"

"Bah. It may have quite a few questionable residents, but they're not going to allow paying customers to be harmed. Though you'd be best served to stay out of there once the sun sets. Some of the vampires can be a bit… uncivilized."

"Oh. I didn't know. I was just told to stay out of there because it was a black market the first time I came to Diagon."

"Ministry lackey. Obviously whoever told you thought that a shady place like Knockturn was a black market was very sheltered."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." Hermione picked up her book and parcel and stood. "I should get going if I want to pick these books up before I need to head home."

"You're welcome, Miss Granger. If you have any further questions or want some advice on what books to read next, feel free to owl me."

"Of course. Thank you again. Have a good day."

"And a good day to you as well."

Hermione slipped back into Diagon Alley quickly. Somewhat nervous, Hermione walked purposefully, following Mr. Ollivander's directions. Hermione had travelled quite a bit and knew that those who did not seem confident could quite easily become a victim.

It was easy enough to find Gwynafar's Second Hand Books. Part of Hermione had to admit that she was a bit upset she'd let fear keep her from a bookstore. That she'd let fear keep her from knowledge.

When she entered, an elderly witch in pale robes took the time to look up at Hermione from behind the counter before returning to a rather thick book. With a mental shrug Hermione looked at her list and then went to the Potions sections. _Most Potente Potions _was easy to find, _Runic Solutions for Modern_ _Problems _(as Hermione had translated the title from Latin to English) was slightly harder to find. In fact, it took her nearly an hour to find the book, tucked away on the bottom shelf of a bookcase in the Ancient Runes section.

After a moment's thought, she paged through _Runic Solutions for Modern Problems_. The text was too advanced for Hermione and she knew it. With a quick thought, she found a text on the meanings of runes and a text on how to make rune arrays. Then she picked up a beginners text on arithmancy.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" asked the clerk when Hermione approached the counter.

"Yes, ma'am," said Hermione.

"One galleon, fourteen sickles, please."

Despite a mental wince, Hermione gave the woman the money she asked for. It seemed she was out of birthday money. Ah well. At least she'd have plenty to do while in France.

* * *

_Most Potente Potions_ was by far one of the most fascinating potions texts she'd ever read-though she'd understood barely an eighth of it. And she could not help but think that Severus Snape, while a brilliant Potions Master, failed epically as a teacher. This belief had only been cemented by the potions texts which were "standard" at Beaubatons. She'd bought English translations of them whilst in Paris. She'd only read the first text so far, but she now found herself understanding far more about how potions were created and modified than ever before.

Runes made sense to Hermione. Particularly when she'd discovered that before wands, all wizards had used runes regularly. Each rune had a meaning, and when runes were combined into arrays, those runes created magic. It interested Hermione in ways most magic she knew did not. The book Mr. Ollivander had recommended actually had some very interesting magic in it and explanations on how to use rune arrays to fix various problems. There were some questionable sections which covered subjects such as how to capture and trap ghosts and autonomous spirits or exorcise places of ghosts which Hermione was rather sure qualified as necromancy-or at least bordered on this forbidden art.

Arithmancy was fascinating in ways she couldn't quite articulate. It gave magic sense and structure. Gave her a way of understanding magic that the theory she studied in transfiguration and charms never quite did. More often than not, she'd been frustrated in class because all the theory boiled down to concentration and will power were needed to make this spell or that spell work. Arithmancy was the mathematics of magic. Every spell, every rune array, every potion, could be explained and quantified by arithmancy. And not even halfway through that book on arithmancy, Hermione knew that no matter what, when she left Hogwarts, she wanted to do something involving arithmancy-perhaps even enter into an arithmancy apprenticeship and become a master arithmancer.

Hermione let out a sigh as she paged through her runic dictionary. She'd picked the book up right before they'd boarded a plane to Japan the day before. It was a fascinating book which told not only the meaning of the runes, but also their arithmantic equations and the spell components.

She looked out the window, noting the trees and rocks moving at a dizzying speed. Hermione looked back down. She got motion sick far too easily. Across from her sat Jack Granger, busily reading some scholarly text focusing on new discoveries, techniques, and procedures in dentistry. Next to her was Laodice, reading a thick romance novel written in Japanese.

Why they were Japan, Hermione did not know. But she had her suspicions. Two days prior, they'd received a phone call from somebody who was obviously Japanese-at least judging by the frantic Japanese Laodice had spoken to whoever was on the other side of the call. Hermione had been in a different room when the call had come, but she'd heard snatches of the conversation. Somebody was ill and not expected to survive.

Laodice rarely spoke about her family, for very obvious reasons, but there were some things Hermione had managed to learn over the years. Laodice's father, an Englishman had met her mother while visiting Japan to set up a branch of his family's business there shortly after the beginning of the Great Depression. They'd married at some point before Laodice's birth in early 1937. Hermione knew little else beyond that Laodice had attended very exclusive all girl's schools in Japan until she ran off to attend dental school in London. Hermione knew that Laodice still spoke to her maternal grandfather on occasion, but that she never spoke to or of her paternal family. Not that any same person would want anything to do with Laodice's paternal family, as Hermione knew far too well.

Following the phone call, there had been a flurry of activity. The next thing she knew, they'd been on a plane from Paris to Tokyo. After a night in a hotel in Tokyo, they'd taken one train, and then a second. In all honesty, Hermione was not sure where they were headed, beyond as far into the mountains as possible.

"Honey, we're getting off at the next station," said Laodice. "You should pack up and get your things together."

"Yes'm," said Hermione.

She put her book in her backpack along with _Runic Solutions for Modern Problems _before packing everything else away in her suitcase. By the time the train came to a stop, about twenty minutes later, the three of them were ready to get off the train. At the station, Hermione glanced around. It was a small village built in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. But it was four or five times larger than Hogsmeade. Then again, Hogsmeade had a population of fifteen hundred. While that was nearly a third of the Wizarding population in the U.K., it was rather small in comparison to Muggles.

Laodice all but ran toward a woman in her forties or so, dressed in a dark blue kimono with a pattern of waves and rocks at the bottom. They hugged and then began to speak softly in Japanese. Unfortunately, Hermione was not quite close enough to hear. She hesitantly followed her father to the woman she now realized she'd seen in her parent's wedding photos. If Hermione remembered correctly, she'd been the only person from Laodice's side of the family other than Laodice's maternal grandfather to attend.

"Hermione, come here," called out her mother. In Japanese, she continued, "Andy-chan, this is my daughter, Hermione. Hermione, this is my younger sister Andromache."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, even under such trying circumstances," said Andromache. "I've heard all about you. You may call me Andy-basan. It is good to see you as well, Jack-niisan."

"A pleasure to meet you as well," Hermione said in Japanese. She'd learned the language-both spoken and written-at her mother's knee.

"The doctors say that Kaasan is not doing well," said Adromache. "My husband is with the car. Matsuo suggested that he drop you, Hermione-chan and me off at the hospital while he and you husband take your bags back to our home."

"Thank you. That would be very good."

* * *

Unsurely, Hermione curled up in a chair by the window as her mother and aunt busied themselves fussing over the elderly woman in the bed. She seemed to be one of two patients in the small clinic. The nearest hospital was well over two hours away and the woman-her grandmother Megumi-was just too weak to make the trip there. Hermione just wasn't sure what to do with this strange woman she'd never met before, even if she was her grandmother. So instead she pulled out her books to continue her reading.

Twenty minutes later, Laodice was quietly grilling the poor doctor while Andromache stood behind her with silent support, leaving Hermione alone with Megumi. She bit her lip and edged her chair a bit closer to the bed, feeling a bit guilty about all but ignoring the woman.

"Hermione-chan, you go to Hogwarts, yes?" said Megumi, her attention having been caught by Hermione's movements.

"Yes. I just finished my first year," she replied in Japanese, knowing on an intellectual level that Megumi had to know some English-her husband had been English after all-but unwilling to speak in a language she'd not heard the woman use, on the off chance that she didn't know it after all.

"What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

Megumi gave her a knowing smile. "What house did that hat originally want to put you in?"

"My friends think it was Ravenclaw."

"But…"

"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff," she admitted quietly.

"From the house of loyalty and hard work to the house of bravery and chivalry. Do you think you made the right choice?"

Hermione looked down, uncomfortable with the questions being asked. Finally, she said, "If not for being a Gryffindor, I never would have become friends with Harry and Ron. They may make stupid choices and get into all sorts of trouble, but I wouldn't give them up for anything."

"Good. I've known many who attended Hogwarts, and most cannot say the same as you," said Megumi. "What is your class standing?"

"I'm first in all classes but potions. Professor Snape-the potions professor-and I don't exactly… get along well."

"I learned through an apprenticeship, not one of the magical academies," she said. "But your grandfather attended Hogwarts-he was a Slytherin, I believe. He was neither the best nor the worst student. Unfortunately, my children never had the chance to attend Hogwarts or enter into an apprenticeship."

"Because they were all squibs," Hermione said softly.

It wasn't something most Wizarding liked to admit, but all Muggleborns were descended from Squibs. Unfortunately, very few Squibs survived long enough to reproduce-if they were even capable of reproduction. Another thing that wasn't spoken of in polite company was how most families had any squibs born sterilized-if they were permitted to live long enough to go through puberty, that is.

"I had four children-three daughters and one son," Megumi said. "Laodice left the country and refuses to acknowledge her family unless it's an emergency. Andromache ignores everything magical, preferring to play the part of perfect homemaker. My third daughter lies buried up in these mountains. You're named for her, you know. My Hermione-chan was special; she would have gone to Hogwarts, had she not died."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright. Of course you didn't know." Megumi let out a sigh. "My boy was always very close to Hermione-chan. They were twins, you know. They did everything together. Do you like runes?"

"Yes," Hermione admitted. "I love them. But I like arithmancy better. It makes so much sense. I just can't get enough of it."

"I didn't know they taught either subject to first years."

"They don't. It's… some independent studying I've been doing. I already finished all my summer homework and I wanted to do something until school starts again next month. They don't offer classes on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy until third year."

"That's an ambitious project. May I see that book?"

Hermione carefully handed her _Runic Solutions for Modern Problems_. Megumi seemed to read through the preface before turning to where she'd put her bookmark. The only reaction Megumi had to the somewhat illegal subject matter was the raising of an eyebrow.

"May I ask why you feel the need to learn such things?"

"It's… interesting."

"And?"

"It's a long story."

"I do believe I have nothing else to do. Please, enlighten me."

"I-I met a man. He was sharing his body with a man who supposedly died a decade ago. When the living man died, the spirit left, but it obviously still existed."

"How were they sharing a body?"

"I-I didn't see it myself, but my friend said the spirit took the form of a face on the back of the man's head."

"What else did this spirit do?"

"I know it and the man it possessed drank the blood of a couple unicorns to extend their… existence. They were looking for the Philosopher's Stone. My friend supposedly killed the man the spirit used to be a decade ago, but nobody knows how that happened. And when my friend touched the possessed man, he seemed to burn his skin. That burning was the only reason my friend survived. The possessed man ended up dying and the spirit ran-floated?-off somewhere."

What Megumi would have said, Hermione did not have a chance to find out. It was then that Laodice and Andromache returned to the room. Hermione accepted the book when Megumi handed it back to her.

"Kaasan, we're going to go for the night. We'll be back in the morning," said Laodice.

"Of course. Please, bring Hermione-chan with you. I would like to get to know my granddaughter better."

* * *

Hermione brought a set of cards along with some books the next day. Using a rolling table between them, Hermione and Megumi whiled the morning away playing rummy, building a card house-which underwent catastrophic failure when it was five stories high-and with Megumi teaching Hermione how to play poker. All the while Laodice and Andromache spoke quietly and searched through medical texts borrowed from a library. As an oral surgeon, Laodice had quite a bit of medical training, after all.

Around noon, Hermione's stomach growled, which seemed to set off some signal with the others in the room. Carefully, using napkins as bookmarks, Laodice began to close books while Andromache started to gather their things together.

"Hermione, pack up your things. We'll return to visit in a couple hours," ordered Laodice.

"Why the rush, Lao-chan?" asked Megumi. "Hermione-chan can spend the afternoon with me. I'd enjoy the company."

Laodice paused. "Hermione, you can stay if you want. Andy-chan and I are just going to have lunch before I take a train out so that I can continue my research at the hospital two valleys over. Jack's already at the hospital library. And Andy-chan is going grocery shopping and start on dinner."

"I-I'll stay if it's not too much trouble."

"Of course not," said Andromache. "Do you remember where my home is?"

"Yes Andy-basan."

"Good. Dinner will be at seven. Just get to the house before then."

"Alright."

"Here," Laodice gave her some money. "Why don't you get yourself lunch and then come back here. You can leave your things-so long as they're out of the way."

"Thank you."

Hermione put her backpack in one of the chairs along with the deck of cards. After a quick set of goodbyes, she left the clinic and went a block over where she bought herself a simple bento and a can of soda for lunch. Once done she returned to the clinic.

"I'm back, Baasan," said Hermione as she entered the room.

"Good," said Megumi. "Please, pull up a chair. We should talk."

"About what?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"We need to talk about your… unusual interests."

"Baasan-"

"Sit down."

Hermione did as ordered.

"The day my Hermione-chan-your namesake-died, I left the Wizarding entirely. It was difficult. I was a pureblood who had been sheltered first by my clan, and then by my husband and his family, but it was the right choice. My father may have allowed me to attempt to support myself, but he did not allow my break from the clan stop him from providing for Andy-chan and Lao-chan's schooling.

"I've done my best to have nothing to do with the Wizarding over the past forty years. But I still hear things. Your friend Harry Potter-was he telling the truth about Voldemort being a spirit?"

"Yes. Harry would never lie about such a thing."

"I would suggest you keep your interests quiet-even from your friends-unless you've no other choice. It could have devastating consequences."

"I'm well aware of that."

"Good," said Megumi. "My son, I've seen him only once since he ran away as a child. He never forgave my husband for permitting his twin to die when he was away and I cannot blame him for feeling that way. I've little doubt he puts some of the blame quite rightfully with me, as well. Now I'm going to offer you a choice, and I want you to think carefully about which option you take."

"Baasan, why did you tell me all that?"

"Because, you needed to know that before you chose. You have two options. The first is that I will tell several possible methods which I believe this Voldemort could have used to survive, and how to kill or contain him, depending upon the method. And you will no longer search through books and scrolls for knowledge which is forbidden for good reason."

"You're a-you're a-"

"In my youth, I was both necromancer and healer, yes. But those days are long behind me." Megumi let out a sigh. "The second option is that I will give you the tools and knowledge you need to figure this out, along with my suspicions. But first you must do one task for me."

"What task is that?" asked Hermione.

"Find my son and convince him to come visit me. I'm not long for this world and I would like to see Jiraiya once more before I die. But I advise you to think long and hard about whether or not to accept this task-it's an incredibly dangerous undertaking."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I'm happy to receive such good feedback on this story so far. Before anybody says anything, there were quite a few hints about twists in the previous chapter.

Secondly, I'll be updating every two weeks or so. Before anybody asks, I haven't decided which day of the week I'll update on.

Thirdly, I know what Hermione does in this chapter is perhaps unexpected. All shall be explained… within the next four chapters or so.

* * *

Chapter 2

Hermione was not the impulsive sort. At least that was what she told herself. Still, she found that she truly wanted to say yes to the task her grandmother had put before her. She was relatively sure it was meant to be the so-called Impossible Task. It was going to be a challenge unlike anything Hogwarts could offer her on an academic level. The entire Philosopher's Stone fiasco had been one such challenge, and Harry had nearly died as a result. Still, she wanted to do this, and part of Hermione could not help but wonder if she'd spent far too much time around her fellow Gryffindors. Of course, her fellow Gryffindors did not deserve all the blame-until four years prior, she'd been quite the daring sort. Perhaps being around Gryffindors had merely reawakened her adventuresome nature and brought it to the fore.

Since their conversation, several hours prior, she and Megumi had not spoken of it again, instead choosing to play games. It seemed, Hermione supposed, that her decision had been made. Which meant she had to ask questions before it was time to leave for the evening. Despite her initial doubt, she really was a Gryffindor at heart.

"Baasan, I'll complete your task," Hermione said quietly. "But there are some things I need to know first."

"Of course. Ask away."

Hermione put her cards down and pulled a notebook and pen from her backpack. "Do you have any idea where my uncle is?"

"Oh yes. My little Jiraiya-chan ran off to live beyond the mists."

"Beyond the mists?" she asked, choosing to focus on that rather than what a grown man would no doubt consider embarrassing use of honorifics.

"There are more worlds than you or I can imagine, no matter what narrow view the Wizarding have chosen these days. There is a path up in the mountain to the South-West of the valley. Take a bus-the twelve to the stop at the little farming community on the plateau. I suggest you take notes. I'll tell you this only once. Good. The bus stop is at an intersection. Take the intersecting road east until it ends. There will be two dirt roads-take the left fork. It will lead you to the correct mountain." Megumi gave her concise directions on which trails to take for several minutes more. Then she said, "Remember, you must walk these trails by foot, otherwise they will not work for you. Now then, the trail will intersect and go over a river, do not go over the river. Turn south and follow the river toward its source. You will come upon a waterfall. Walk to the right of the waterfall along the cliffs, you will find a set of stairs. Take the stairs and follow them, they lead to a path. Take this path. This is the path which leads you beyond the mists."

Part of Hermione wanted to protest the existence of another world. But she'd seen too much to dismiss such things as completely out of hand.

"Alright, can you tell me anything about this world?"

"Are you familiar with the legends about ninja with powers and supernatural abilities?" At Hermione's nod, Megumi continued. "In this world, those legends are fact. Be careful, they use their chakra similar to how we use our magic and they will mistake any use of magic for use of chakra. Use magic if you must, but understand that they will believe you to be a kunoichi."

"I-alright. What language do they speak?"

"Japanese. And their society is much like Japan was in my youth-before the war. Do not worry. I have several kimono and yukata which you may use. They belonged to myself, and my daughters when they were your age. You have worn a kimono before, yes?"

"Yes." Her mother often preferred that both she and Hermione wear kimono during dinner parties. "Mum taught me how to wear both kimono and yukata, and she's taught me several different ways to tie an obi."

"Good. Kunoichi wear clothing similar to what you modern girls wear, but civilian women dress far more formally." She shook her head. "There's a bag of coins in my home. They're the same coins used throughout that world. Go to the bedroom off the kitchen. It's under the mat in the corner without doors or windows. You'll find a loose floor board. Under the floor board are the coins, and several other objects you'll no doubt find useful. Everything you find under there is yours to keep. I won't need them anymore. Be careful, there are plenty of thieves who would be more than happy to take that money from you. In the hall closet, there should be a tent and a bedroll you can use."

Megumi paused, thinking. "The kimono, yukata, and obi are in a trunk in the back of the storage room off the laundry room. It's the trunk with this symbol." Megumi drew something. "I suggest you take the entire trunk. Everything in there should be appropriate for a teenage girl. Don't worry about them getting ripped or dirty. They're yours to keep as well."

"How should I find him?" asked Hermione. "How should I convince him to come back? I've never even met him before."

"I can't do everything for you, child. That book of yours-the one you showed me yesterday-is useful for more than you seem to think. I suggest using it. And if you're in Konohagakure no Sato, you should consider hiring a shinobi to act as a guide and protector. But only a shinobi from there. Do not trust the other hidden villages."

"I-thank you," said Hermione, knowing she'd get little else from the woman.

"And I will teach you a spell or two before you leave. Do not worry; our government does not care about underage magic."

* * *

After dinner, Hermione retreated to the small room her aunt had given her. There she carefully began to page through the books she'd brought with her. Without a second thought, she began to put together several simple healing potions and a sedative-just in case. While they were brewing, she found a tracking spell made of a rune array and a bit of blood. The blood was used as a focus for the runes so that it would essentially track any and all blood relatives up to a certain degree of relation of whoever's blood was used.

Once the rune array was carved into a piece of wood and mounted on a piece of leather like a necklace, Hermione moved on to packing. Unfortunately, everything had to be able to fit into her backpack. Luckily, her grandmother had taught her this little rune array which could store objects in pretty much anything the matching array could be painted on. As a result, she now had several handkerchiefs on the bottom of her backpack full of stored items. She'd considered using scrolls, like her grandmother said was common, but that was precisely why she'd chosen against doing so; because it was something people might know to look for. And she could think of dozens of places to put a handkerchief on her body in Muggle or Wizarding clothing thanks to her year at Hogwarts.

Once clothing for several days was packed-not including whatever more traditional clothing her grandmother thought she should bring-she moved on to her potions, potion supplies, and a couple of her books. Hermione also packed shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, and other basic toiletries. Then she found a pack of matches and wished she'd thought to buy a piece of flint earlier. Not to mention that she still wasn't sure what she was going to do about food. But she supposed she could use that money her grandmother had spoken of to buy food on the other side of the mists.

This was stupid and crazy and she knew she should have taken the first option. Perhaps that was why she'd agreed to the second. She'd spent so much time and energy trying to be the perfect, rule abiding daughter that she knew she should be, that given a chance to rebel, she jumped on it. Harry and Ron had no idea that most of the time, her objections were more because of the spontaneity and lack of forethought of their little adventures than the danger and rule breaking. And she'd no intention of telling them that anytime in the foreseeable future.

The next morning she sensibly tied her long hair into two tight braids before pinning them into two buns. Then she put on socks, leggings, a knee length a-line cotton skirt, a t-shirt and her best walking boots. Under her skirt, she fastened her wand holster so that she could either reach her wand at the waistband on the left or by lifting her skirt and pulling the wand out. Finally she tied a plaid shirt about her waist and put on her backpack. Hopefully her parents would not know what had occurred until she did not show up for dinner. She was supposed to spend the day at the clinic while they did whatever else needed to be done.

Hermione took the bento her aunt gave her gratefully. At least that was one meal taken care of. But what else she was going to eat, she really didn't know.

After breakfast, they stopped at the clinic, where her parents, aunt, and uncle visited for a couple minutes before continuing on, leaving Hermione behind. Hermione waited until she was sure they'd left before pulling the pendant out from under her shirt and showing it to Megumi. Megumi looked the pendant over carefully, running her fingers over the carvings before nodding.

"I was wondering if you would be willing to activate the pendant," said Hermione.

"It's very good-particularly for one night's work." She gave Hermione a serious look. "You can use your own blood as a focus for this, you know."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, and then changed her mind. Suspicions were not worth vocalizing. At least not at this point.

"Thank you."

"I'll write out what you need to know while you're gone," she said. "Just in case I… don't manage to hold out until you return."

"Thank you."

Megumi opened the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out two thick scrolls. "This is the first scroll of our family's medical spells and techniques. This one is a scroll on how to use your magic without a wand or rune array-they're techniques my mother's clan has been perfecting for centuries. I've already begun to teach you this skill. I had Andy-chan retrieve them for you last night. Whether you succeed or fail in your task, I've already arranged for you to receive all my medical scrolls upon my death. The scrolls on necromancy are yours only if you succeed."

"I understand. These alone are simply amazing. I can never thank you enough for giving me these scrolls."

Her grandmother nodded. "Let me give you the address of my house before you leave."

* * *

Everything had been exactly where Megumi had said it was. The trunk was already sealed into a handkerchief, and Hermione tried not to think of just how much all that clothing was worth. How much a gift like that was worth. While in the storage room, she dug out some proper socks and sandals which would fit her to wear with what was in the trunk. The tent and bedroll were a bit dusty, but very much usable and those she'd put into a different handkerchief. Now she was searching for that money, and Hermione could not help but wonder what her grandmother had been doing going beyond the mist often enough to need it, though she suspected the woman had been searching for her son.

Hermione moved the bamboo mat out of the way and carefully pried up the only loose floor board. She took out a small trunk and carefully opened it. There was a bag, full of coins made of gold, silver, and bronze. A mirror-a scrying mirror, Hermione realized-with dozens of runes carved about the frame. Hair ornaments tipped with sheaved blades meant to be hidden within a hair style and a beautiful comb with metal flowers on one side and positively deadly sharp teeth on the other. There has to be two dozen pins, with pretty lacquer flowers and animals on one side, tapering to needle thin points on the other. There was a lovely fan with painted silk flowers hiding its heavy, metal spine of sharp blades. There was a sheaved knife as long as her arm, and another no more than the length of her hand, not including the hilt. There was a second, far more delicate fan with a thin knife hidden in the spine on the side without the design. A third fan made no effort to disguise what it was-a tessen; a war fan.

At least, Hermione supposed, she would get to be both well dressed and deadly. Although that still did not explain why her grandmother had so much weaponry that did not look like weaponry meant to adorn a woman in a kimono. Or where it had come from. Or who had made them. Although she supposed this answered her long standing question of where her mother had learned to use a tessen-and for a moment Hermione lamented not being able to take her own war fan with her-it was somewhere in her room back home in Manchester.

Hermione bit her lip and slipped the smaller knife into the side of her boot and a couple of the bronze and silver coins along with a single gold coin into her pocket before going about putting the rest of the items into storage and double checking that she'd not missed anything. Then she continued onward and left the house. Following the directions given to her, she took a bus up into the mountains, stopping only to buy some food for dinner and breakfast the next day with what little yen she had left. Then she proceeded to follow the roads and paths as directed.

She could only hope her parents would not react too badly when they received the note she'd left with her grandmother. That said, she was rather certain she'd be severely punished for this.

Hermione wasn't sure how long or far she walked, but by the time the sun was low in the sky, she'd found the stairs by the waterfall. It was in pristine condition and Hermione could not help but wonder how long the stairs had been there or if they were regularly cared for.

By the time the sun set, Hermione was nowhere near the end of the strange rock trail. Somewhat hesitantly, she ate dinner and set up her bedroll, unwilling to set up the tent or make a fire in such mild weather. When the sun rose, she ate a single piece of fruit, trying not to think about how thick the early morning mist was or how difficult it was to see the path now slippery with morning dew. After her hair was brushed and pinned once more, she continued onward. She'd change once she was closer to a town supposing it was as old fashioned as her grandmother had described.

By mid morning she took a break to eat the leftovers from her bento lunch and the dinner she had bought the day before, not yet willing to eat her breakfast. She then continued onward. At the end of the path, Hermione carefully placed a set of runes copied from her book so that she would be able to find the path again.

Hermione held out her wand once she stepped off the path and channeling the slightest bit of magic, said, "Point me."

The wand spun about on her palm several times before point west. Hermione slid her wand away. She'd found the spell while looking for reference to Nicholas Flamel. It could be used to find due north, or if properly modified, to find just about anything a person would think of-so long as it was inanimate. Hermione had used it to find the nearest civilization. First she would find the nearest civilization and buy food, then she would begin her search.

By mid afternoon, Hermione finally reached a point where she could see the tiny village. It was surrounded by thick, tall walls. Hidden behind a tree, she could not help but stare at the village filled with people on foot and horse and oxen drawn carts. She was just close enough to see what looked like two samurai. Just close enough to see that everybody did indeed wear traditional Japanese clothing.

With that in mind, she slipped away from her hiding place and tracked down the closest little stream. She refilled her water bottle and unsealed the trunk of clothing. With careful thought, she selected a relatively plain green and brown kimono with a subtle pattern of birds. It was not one of the better kimono in the trunk, but it was of obviously good quality. She found the proper undergarments and obi before rinsing the dust of the road off and going through the lengthy process of dressing herself. She'd forgotten just how time consuming it was to tie it correctly.

Her wand holster was moved to her left arm in a position where it would remain hidden, no matter what. After a moment of thought, the fan with the hidden blade was slipped into place and the backpack once more where it should be. Hermione brushed her fingers against the fronds growing out of the water. In an instant they dried and twisted themselves into a sturdy basket. Perfect.

Hermione put her wand away and, basket in hand headed into the town. Now she was merely a girl shopping at the market. It was not, she knew, a perfect disguise, but it would do for now. It took her a little bit of time to get used to walking through a forest in the tabi and geta, but she got the hang of it after a couple minutes. She was just grateful she'd chosen the sandals specifically designed for serious walking. She had two sets of zori with her, but they really were more suited for urban travel and paved or dry roads than mountain trails and rainy days. They wouldn't, Hermione knew, do her much good if she were forced to run, but she'd no intention of ending up in a situation where that was necessary.

She entered the village late in the afternoon. Hermione quickly found the market. She observed the haggling and exchange of money about her, pretending to be examining wares. Once she was relatively sure of the worth of each coin, she jumped in, buying a bag of rice, enough fresh produce to last several days, some dried noodles, fish, meat, cooking oil, a dozen eggs, nori-sheets of seaweed, a couple cloves of garlic, a box of salt, a bottle of miso, and two bottles of sauce to use as flavoring, should she not have the chance to forage for herbs. Before leaving the market, she also bought a pan, a kitchen knife, a pot, some kitchen utensils, a proper set of chopsticks, and a canteen. Finally, she found a cartographer and bought the one item which was out of character; a map. The entirety of her purchases totaled to only one of the silver coins and two bronze coins, and the most expensive item had, perhaps not so oddly, been a map of the "elemental countries". Obviously things were worth less here than on the other side of the mists.

As quickly as she'd come, Hermione left the town. She stopped to make camp when the sun truly began to set, grateful that it was summer and as a result the sun did not set until late. It was a simple matter to go off the road, locate a stream and set up a small fire and her bedroll in a tiny clearing. She sealed most of the items she'd bought into a handkerchief, and chopped up meat and vegetables, added some garlic and a dash of soy sauce for flavoring and finally a handful of rice.

While her supper cooked, Hermione unrolled the map, using the campfire for light. She examined it, noting that the countries tended to be named for the various elements, explaining why they were referred to as the elemental countries. She took out _Runic Solutions for Modern Problems_ and turned to the section she'd found the rune array she'd carved into the wood pendant which hung around her neck. It took her a minute or so to find the spell she was looking for, although in all fairness, it was a combination of a spell and rune array.

Gathering her courage, Hermione carefully cut open her left pointer finger, making sure not to cut into muscle. Then she squeezed the wound, forcing blood out. Before she could back out, she began to draw a complicated rune array around the edges of the map. Once done, she pulled her wand and spoke a single word. The array lit up like a light bulb for a second, before fading completely. In its place were five gently glowing dots of light, scattered about the map.

They showed the location of her living blood relations-up to a point. More than a couple generations distance and they'd not show up with this spell at all. Nevertheless, now that the runes were in place, Hermione could activate and deactivate the array at will, and the dots would show the locations in real time. Careful examination, judging by what geographical features she'd seen so far and the name of the town she'd just left allowed Hermione to tell which dot was hers.

There were, however, four other dots, any one of which could belong to Jiraiya. The only question was which of the dots belonged to Jiraiya. One dot was in the same place as the dot which demarked Konohagakure no Sato. Another dot was in the midst of the wilderness of some country nearly on the other side of the continent from her called Kaminari no Kuni-since when was Lightening an element? A third was on one of the islands of a country whose name translated to Wave. The fourth was actually in the same country as she was in-like the first-in what seemed to be one of the major cities. At least, Hermione supposed, she knew which dot to check out first. But that would have to wait until morning.

Hermione deactivated the rune array and put the map away in her backpack. She brushed her bloody finger against the pendant to activate it and then unsealed her first aid kit and took out a bandage and an antiseptic ointment. Once her finger was taken care of, she settled in to eat.

In the morning, Hermione took a bath using the stream near her camp site. The water was unpleasantly cold, but it needed to be done. She dried her hair with a wave of her wand and once more put her hair up before putting on a rather plain kimono more suitable for travel than the one she'd worn the day before. The wave pattern was perhaps unsuitable for blending in with the forest, but then again she wanted to pretend to be a simple traveler. She hid the shorter knife in her obi and secured the heavier fan before securing the wand to her left arm once more.

Hermione checked the map, confirming that the dot closest to her position had not moved during the night. The pendant was only really of use within a ten mile radius of the target. Further than that and it had trouble focusing. After gathering her things together, and making sure the fire was really out, Hermione walked back to the road. She walked patiently for around a mile until the cart which had been near her was completely out of sight.

It was then that Hermione stopped. With great concentration, she gathered her magic as her grandmother had taught her. Then she stamped her foot twice, picturing the map, her position, and her destination while expelling the magic into the ground. Hopefully this would work. She'd never actually done this spell before.

This was actually one of the three spells and techniques Megumi had taught her two days prior. The spell was called _all paths are one _and was a travel spell older than apparition or portkeys. It was supposed to allow the user to travel great distances whilst walking by somehow using magic to condense and contract the roads or perhaps make the user jump from place to place. Anyway, according to Megumi, a witch could cover hundreds of miles in a day without the dangers of apparition such as splinching or of portkeys such as landing too high and falling to one's death.

Hermione didn't notice moving as faster than a walk, but by the time she stopped for a short break and to check her map, it seemed that she'd traveled well over forty miles. Absolutely amazed she'd covered such distance in only an hour, Hermione continued onward to a city surrounding a fortress where it seemed that a blood relative was.

It was only a little before lunch when Hermione arrived at the city which was perhaps more accurately described as a large town. At least by her standards. But then again, she'd grown up in a post industrial revolution society.

After getting past the gate guards, who'd oddly enough been very respectful when letting her through-actually, they'd been more respectful than most of the people she'd encountered in Japan-Hermione fished the pendant out from under her kimono. Holding it in her hand, she channeled just the slightest bit of magic into her hand and released it into the pendant so that it had enough energy to properly work.

There was a gentle pull and suddenly Hermione found herself knowing precisely which direction to go and a basic idea of how far away the person was. There were other, gentler pulls, but they were so far away as to be negligible.

Still unsure of what she would say should this turn out to be Jiraiya, Hermione set out. Of course, she didn't know what to say if it were not Jiraiya, either. She could only assume three of those dots belonged to Jiraiya's children or grandchildren. She refused to entertain other possibilities at the moment.

Hermione found herself outside a tavern in what was neither the best nor the worst neighborhood. She did not particularly want to enter, but knew she'd no other choice. She slipped her pendant back under the neckline of her kimono. And so Hermione found herself entering a tavern which reminded her greatly of the Leaky Cauldron and feeling more out of place than she'd felt since she'd been taken to Diagon Alley the year before.

The tavern had several small tables along the walls and three large long tables in the center of the room. There were stools against the bar, but Hermione refused to leave her back open.

She glanced about, noting that four teenage boys and men sat at one of the large tables, taking up one end. They wore what looked like a uniform of navy shirts and trousers with green vests over them. It took her a minute to notice the metal plates with what looked like stylized leaves tied to various places upon their bodies. The pendant was, she realized, pulling her to this group of what she was relatively sure were soldiers of some sort.

There was a group of men in traditional clothing the next table over from the soldiers. There were two women in kimono, making Hermione feel slightly better about being in the tavern. However, they were the only women in a tavern absolutely full to bursting with men who mostly seemed to be either working class or lower middle class. The only table with any room was the one with soldiers, and Hermione could only assume that was because nobody wanted to sit by men who were probably very dangerous.

Hermione allowed her nervousness to show as she approached the group of soldiers. She bowed the way her mother had taught her.

"Excuse me, sirs," Hermione said. "Would you please permit me to share your table? I'm afraid all the others are full."

The four soldiers turned to look at her. And then she realized the pendant was trying to pull her to the brown haired, brown eyed teenager. She did her best not to look at him instead focusing on the oldest of the group, a man with longish brown hair under a bandana and a… senbon? sticking out of his mouth.

The eldest man gave a grunt and a nod. Hermione took that as permission and proceeded to sit herself near the opposite end of the table. Admittedly, the table was only around six feet long, and she was not al that far away from the soldiers at all.

When the waitress came, Hermione ordered milk and whatever the cook had ready, because she really didn't feel like thinking too much about what to eat. Luckily, the entire meal had only cost her one of the tiny bronze coins. Obviously she had quite a bit of money, thanks to all those gold coins, but Hermione had no desire to spend it all without realizing it.

While waiting for her lunch, Hermione took the time to examine her cousin-please let him be her cousin-while pretending to blush and giggle shyly about the boy next to him with two swords strapped to his back. Her cousin had the same dark brown, almost black, eyes as she did, though hers were larger and more European in shape. His thick brown hair was far darker than her own, though similar in shade to Andromache's hair. They had the same thin eyebrows and nose. Other than that, there was little shared resemblance. The boy couldn't have been much more than fifteen or sixteen, though he was more heavily muscled than Oliver Wood or the Weasley twins could ever hope to be.

After much thought, Hermione decided it would be safer not to ask her cousin about Jiraiya. At least not when there were so many soldiers about. Nevertheless, she wanted to at least know her cousin's name. He was family, after all.

After she finished eating, Hermione stood and approached the soldiers once more. If nothing else, she could use that perceived crush to her advantage.

It was easy to make herself blush. She didn't feel particularly comfortable doing this. Hermione bowed to them once more.

"Thank you for allowing me to share your table." Hermione then made a point of glancing at the boy with swords and hiding her face behind her sleeve as if shy or embarrassed. "I'm Tanaka Ami. Please, may I know your name?"

Her cousin seemed to laugh at the predicament of having a young girl crushing on his friend. "His name is Hayate."

"Shut up, Tenzo!" Hayate snapped at her cousin.

"Thank you." She giggled and turned. "Have a good day."

With that she left the tavern and walked back out of the city. As soon as possible, she went off the road into the forest and pulled out her map once more. The only dot other than Tenzo's which had not moved was the one in Konoha. She bit her lip before making a decision. She rolled the map back up and walked to the road. Now know that she could do it, she stamped her foot twice, activating the spell.

By the time Hermione arrived at Konohagakure, the gates were closed for the night. She considered breaking in to the village, but upon seeing the guards-with the same metal plates and abstract leaves-Hermione decided against doing so. Instead, she made camp about five miles away and started out very early in the morning. This time she dressed in a pale kimono covered with beautiful, delicate birds.

These gate guards actually took down her name; she went with Hermione, no clan name. They then explained to her that she was not to trespass on restricted sites such as training fields and most of their governmental buildings save something called Hokage Tower. And that if she were there to commission a mission, she was to go to Hokage Tower. Apparently, the ninja village ran itself similar to a military base, despite a large civilian population.

She followed the pendant to the strongest pull, only to find herself in a cemetery. Part of her wanted to turn around and leave then, but there was always the chance that somebody was visiting a grave. Unfortunately, she knew that the pendant did not differentiate between the living and the dead particularly well, unlike the map in which only the living were shown.

Her first stop was the grave of somebody named Senju Nawaki. Hermione wasn't really sure how they were related, and found it a bit more difficult to insist Tenzo had been a cousin. And then she saw how terrifyingly young the boy had been when he had died-less than a year older than she was now.

And then she felt a moment of regret for not going back to get flowers the moment she'd realized she was going to enter a cemetery. She glanced about. Good. She couldn't see anybody. Hermione really didn't want to be mistaken for a kunoichi, but this uncared for grave had belonged to a member of her family. Careful not to dirty her kimono, Hermione squatted down and put her hands to the ground.

Hermione knew of people whose accidental magic had mostly been to avoid unpleasant things-such as Harry-or who had created fires with a thought-like Lavender-or random telekinesis-like Parvati, but Hermione had been different. Her accidental magic had generally only shown when she went into the family garden or when she and Jack Granger had gone on one of their many camping trips.

Plants just loved her, trees more so than flowers or crops, but really, most non-magical plants were more than happy to do whatever she wanted. Whatever she could imagine. Magical plants tended to be more belligerent, and in the case of semi-sentient plants like devil's snare would generally refuse to listen to her at all. Actually, that refusal and Hermione's shock at a plant acting like that was why the devil's snare had almost killed her, Ron and Harry before she'd thought to use fire.

It was easy to sense out several flowering plants, slightly harder to reach out with magic and pull so that they moved and grew into the area she wanted. However, by the time she was done a flowering bush and several perennial flowers grew atop Nawaki's grave.

"I apologize for not being able to offer better," Hermione told the grave quietly. "I hope you are at peace and that my actions did not disturb you."

Hermione brushed off her hands, gave the grave a sad look and continued onward. The next thing the pendant led her to was only a couple feet away; a section of the graveyard full of Senjus. She shook her head. These people were more distantly related-the pull was barely there. That said, she decided not to grow flowers for them because the amount of magic she would have to use would have been absolutely monumental, and would without doubt draw unwanted attention.

After apologizing to the graves, Hermione continued on. This time she found a small, out of the way section of the grave yard. It was guaranteed privacy merely by the wild growth of trees. Hermione allowed the pendant to lead her to two graves next to each other. A married couple, it seemed.

She had, for the first time, found a name she recognized. The grave was of Namikaze Minato. Next to it was the grave of Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina, doubtlessly Minato's wife. Namikaze had been her maternal great grandmother's maiden name. She knew this because of a family tree project from Muggle school. From what she remembered, Laodice had made a point of saying how much time Jiraiya had spent with his mother's mother during his childhood. Was Jiraiya using the Namikaze name, or was this Minato fellow merely a distant cousin?

No, the pull of the pendant was too strong for a distant cousin. With that in mind, she squatted once more and, hands upon the ground, reached out. She grew a flowering vine, wrapping it about both gravestones and a group of perennial flowers.

Hermione stood. There was only one pulling strand she'd not yet investigated. She stood to leave, only to stop short. She could have sworn she'd seen something move out of the corner of her eyes. She leaned against a tree and using it as a focus, reached out with her senses.

"Good morning," said Hermione. "Would you be so kind as to step down from the tree? I think we would both be more comfortable speaking upon the ground."

If nothing else, Muggle trees were always more than happy to speak to her. Or in this case, tell her if a person was perched upon their branches.

A slight figure leaped down from a tree at a speed Hermione could not quite catch. It took Hermione a moment to realize that the figure was actually a boy in his early teens. Though he wore a metal plate with a leaf upon his forehead like the other ninja, he wore a loose black shirt and black pants instead of the navy and green uniform she was quickly becoming used to. His dark hair was pulled into a loose pony tail near the base of his neck, though a lot of hair had managed to escape and frame his face.

And then Hermione saw his eyes. Red eyes with strange black spots. She did not flinch, but only because she'd spent a year among the Wizarding. Though most Wizarding had normal eyes, some had strangely colored or shaped irises or pupils, signaling that there was something not quite human in their background. That said, she'd never seen somebody with red eyes before. Yellow, yes, silver, yes, purple or orange, yes. Red, not so much.

"Good afternoon," said the ninja.

He was a child soldier. And part of Hermione wanted to scream and shout that it was wrong. Another part of her acknowledged that in a way that thought was hypocritical, considering what she'd done the previous year.

"Why were you watching me?" asked Hermione.

The ninja gave her an unreadable look. "Why did you visit these graves?"

"I was unaware that it was against the law to show one's respect for the dead." Hermione straightened herself. "If that is all, I'm going to go get lunch now."

The boy said nothing as Hermione carefully made her way out of the little clearing, however, when she glanced behind, he was gone from sight. Unsettled by the encounter, Hermione made her way out of the cemetery and meandered through Konoha as she looked for a place to grab lunch. Unconsciously, she allowed the pendant to lead her.

The next thing she knew, she was at a tiny ramen stand. There was only one other customer, a blonde boy in a bright orange t-shirt and blue shorts. Hermione ordered a bowl of beef ramen as she perched herself upon a stool next to the boy. It took her several minutes to realize that the boy was the one her pendant had been pulling her toward in Konoha.

She looked at him and it was like a punch to the gut. Hermione knew that face. She'd seen it before-though not in a long while. And even without the pendant, she would have recognized the boy as a blood relative. Hermione used the bowl placed before her as a shield as she did her best not to cry.

She ate quietly, listening to the conversation between the boy and the vendor. It took her a couple minutes to realize that when the man said Naruto, he was referring to the boy, not the ramen topping. Who in their right mind would name a child after fishcakes?

Hermione thought about saying something to the boy, but that would not be right. He was a child-no more than five or six in age. Hermione really wasn't sure he would understand anything. Instead she settled for getting seconds and putting a hand on the kid's arm.

"Hey, let go!" Naruto shouted at her.

Hermione ignored his indignation. "Kid, the faster you eat, the less full your stomach feels. Take your time. I'm sure these nice people won't let anybody steal your food from you."

Then she removed her hand and went back to her own food. It wasn't much, but she'd given the same advice to Harry. The kid, she was rather sure, ate so quickly because he was afraid that somebody was going to steal his food. Because people had taken his food in the past. Fighting the urge to figure out a way to lay a curse upon whoever was responsible for Naruto's abuse, she finished her meal.

Discretely, Hermione gave the vendor far too much for what she'd eaten-one of the gold coins-and motioned toward the boy with her head.

"He's far too thin," said Hermione. "If you would be so kind as to give him extra vegetables and meat with his ramen? This should be enough to cover it."

Wide eyed, the ramen vendor nodded his agreement. Hermione did not wait for a response. Instead she left, feeling relatively safe in trusting the vendor with such a task. He obviously cared about Naruto and the boy was a regular at the stand, judging by how familiar they were with each other.

Though Hermione had to ask for directions on several occasions, it did not take her long to find her way to Hokage tower. She entered through the main entrance and approached the secretary.

"How may I help you?" asked the bored looking teen.

"I was wondering who I'm supposed to speak to to hire a ninja," she explained.

The teen waved somebody over. "Yuuhi-san can escort you to the mission office."

A black haired red eyed woman walked over. She gave Hermione a short bow. "Good afternoon. Please follow me to the mission office."

Hermione said, "Good afternoon," and followed her guide.

They went up several flights of stairs and into a large office. Yuuhi-san led her past several desks where people were meeting with ninja to a desk with only a ninja behind it.

"Here we are, Miss," said Yuuhi-san.

"Thank you," said Hermione.

"Please, sit down," said the ninja behind the desk. "I'm Hino Itsuko."

"I'm Hermione."

"May I ask how Konoha could be of service to you?"

"I'm traveling to meet with a member of my family," Hermione explained, trying to stay as close to the truth as possible. "Until now I've not had to leave the country, however it has become apparent that my uncle is not here. He is either in Nami no Kuni or Kaminari no Kuni-unless he's moved again-and I would feel much more comfortable if I were to have an escort of some sort if I were to leave Hi no Kuni. If he moves on to a different country than those two, I would like my escort to remain with me until I find him."

"Is there any reason a person would attempt to harm you?"

"Not that I know of," said Hermione, before admitting, "But my family does not always get along."

"Please, explain."

"I've known of members of my family who have tried to kill each other. I don't think my uncle has any reason to harm me, but I cannot be sure. I've never met him before."

"Is it that common amongst your clan?"

"Well… not really." She thought of her namesake, and then the person Naruto had so resembled. "But it's certainly been known to happen."

"Alright. Since you intend to travel through Kaminari no Kuni and there is the possibility of an assassination attempt, this would be a low B-rank mission. When do you want it to begin?"

"I'd like to leave Konoha today if possible."

She paid-it only cost three of the little silver coins-and was led to a nice waiting room. She was, she noted, the only person under the age of twenty in the room. Now that she had a chance to look around, she realized that her kimono were generally of much better quality than what people who actually could afford to hire ninja wore. They were considered relatively good quality in Japan, but certainly not as good as what a very rich person would wear. She could not help but come to the conclusion that her kimono portrayed her as being upper middle class at the very least. And then she gave more thought to how closely the culture reflected that of Japan in the past and fought the urge to smack herself in the forhead. She was obviously portraying herself as a member of the samurai or merchant-very wealthy merchant-class.

Half an hour later, a ninja came and lead her into a much larger room with several elderly people and ninja behind a large table. On the same side of the table as her was the boy from the cemetery.

Hermione stilled as an elderly man announced, "Itachi-kun, this is your client, Hermione-san. Hermione-san, this is your one of your escort, Uchiha Itachi-kun, a Chunin of Konoha."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I don't really have much to say about this chapter. Although I do want to reply to something brought up in several reviews. Said reviewers mentioned that I was perhaps making Hermione slightly more mature than her yeas. All I can say to that is that I've not quite adjusted to writing Hermione the twelve year old. I'm far more used to writing Hermione the sixteen or twenty six year old. Other parts of her maturity will be explained within the story itself.

About her use of magic; Hermione is not in combat situations which means that she has more time to think of what spell to use and what actions to take. Part of her extensive-for a twelve year old-knowledge of magic is because she spent quite a bit of time studying it for fun. Another part is simple curiosity which drove her to study things most would not.

As for how dangerous Hermione's task is, that was on purpose. Believe me, it will be explained. It will be criticized and it will be condoned. Although who does what I've no intention of explaining before it shows up in the story.

And this is Itachi before he committed the massacre, so I'm writing him based off of what was seen in the two major flashbacks about the character. That means that he's a bit more talkative and open. And just less seemingly apathetic. And he does not know about some of Orochimaru's more horrific acts.

Finally, I know I'm using the wrong method of measuring distance. I thought about going and fixing everything, but I just can't bring myself to do so. So don't expect to see the metric system anytime soon.

* * *

Chapter 3

It had been easier than Itachi had thought it would be to get the mission. But then, he supposed he was the only one who'd seen Hemrione-san's suspicious behavior. The Hokage had merely warned him that he was to protect and guide Hermione-san, and to remember that even though they were around the same age, he should be professional.

Itachi was not yet sure what to make of Hermione. He'd been visiting his cousin's grave when he'd felt somebody use enough chakra for a B-ranked technique at the least. When he'd gone to investigate, all Itachi had seen was a kimono clad girl squatting before a grave, her hands buried in the grass. Much to his surprise, several plants had then grown atop the grave. No jutsu he knew of could make plants grown without the use of a kekkei genkai.

But Itachi had hesitated to jump to conclusions. Instead, he surreptitiously followed the girl through the cemetery as she left the grave of Senju Nawaki and moved on to the Senju section and finally the graves of the Yondaime and his wife. Itachi had listened to the words she spoke to the graves, trying to piece together her intentions.

When Hermione had knelt and gathered her chakra to perform a jutsu, Itachi activated his Sharingan and settled in to a good position to watch. But the girl used no hand seals. Instead she pushed her chakra into the grown without bothering to even attempt to mold it. He watched in silent amazement as the chakra fanned out in all directions before contracting and concentrating itself in the ground before the graves as plants sprouted and grew.

The girl, he realized in that instant, was using Mokuton. But why would she visit the Yondaime's grave? The Senjus made sense, but the Yondaime did not.

And then he'd made a mistake. Hermione had spotted him. Itachi had hidden, hoping Hermione would think it a figment of her imagination. Instead she'd leaned against a tree and sent a little less chakra than it would have taken to use a henge into the tree. A moment later she'd turned to look directly at him. Their conversation had not been particularly revealing-though in the end, Hermione had claimed she was paying her respects to the dead.

It was not until half an hour later, when Itachi was watching Hermione eat ramen at a small stand called Ichiraku's that he remembered that Namikaze Minato had been the son of Namikaze Jiraiya and Senju Tsunade-hime. It wasn't a secret, but neither was the Yondaime's ancestry spoken of these days-back when he'd been in the running for Hokage, it-and his apparent genius-had been all Konoha could speak of. If this girl was indeed a Senju as Itachi was now rather sure of, it would, he supposed, make sense to visit the Yondaime's grave as well as the rest of her family's.

Of course, that did not explain why he'd never seen her around Konoha before. Although he had thought it possible she was descended from some illegitimate offspring of one of the Senju Clan. Mokuton could not be faked and he was sure the girl bore a stricking resemblance to Tsunade-himesama once he actually took the time to think about it.

That said, Itachi almost interfered when Hermione touched Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was to be protected from all threats. But much to his surprise, the girl had merely advised him to eat slower and then taken the ramen vendor off to the side and asked the man to give Naruto more meat and vegetables in his food because he was so thin. Much to Itachi's surprise, she'd given the man a gold coin worth thousands of ryo-enough to feed a small family for over a year-to pay for the extra food she'd requested.

Itachi had not wondered why she aided Naruto. It merely convinced him that she believed what many Konoha nin suspected. Most of the older generation were well aware that Uzumaki Kushina, wife of Namikaze Minato, was the only member of the Uzumaki clan to survive the destruction of Uzu no Kuni. That Naruto bore the Uzumaki name was telling. Even more telling was the boy's resemblance to the Yondaime. It was not openly discussed for fear of enemies of Konoha finding out, but many suspected that the Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi into his own child. More pressing was how Hermione had found Naruto and how she'd found out about the rumors.

From there Hermione had gone to Hokage Tower to request a mission. Itachi had used the time it would take to process the request to return to the Uchiha compound, change into appropriate clothing and get together basic mission supplies just in case he did not have a chance to do so before the mission. He'd arrived back at Hokage Tower with just enough time to request a mission, claiming he felt he could use more experience acting as a bodyguard-it was a difficult skill set, after all. And so he'd been given the low level B-Rank the Sandaime had claimed was very unlikely to result in any fighting, other than possibly against bandits. Hermione had given him a wide eyed, slightly panicked look when the Sandaime had introduced them, but she'd quickly agreed to meet him at the gates within forty five minutes.

When all was said and done, Itachi really did not know what to make of the girl. He should, perhaps, have told the Hokage about this, but had not yet been sure it was worth the man's attention. Sarutobi might be aware of things that Itachi was not privilege to. He might know precisely who the girl was and have decided not to assign a Jonin or a team of Chunin for so straight forward a mission to avoid drawing unwanted attention to Hermione. After all the Hokage may have considered him the best option under the circumstances-he was well on his way to becoming a Jonin within the next year or two and at the moment was one of the better Chunin the village had to offer outside of ANBU. And he wanted to gather more intelligence on the girl before he brought his suspicions to the Hokage.

* * *

Hermione approached the front gate unsurely. She'd planned on buying more food or unsealing the food she already had with her, but since Itachi had already seen her manipulate plants, she didn't see a reason to bother doing so. Instead she'd bought another bag of rice, some more noodles, a set of bowls and a set of chopsticks along with some extra spices and vegetables on her way out of the village, stopping only to seal them into her second to last free handkerchief. Given a choice, she'd rather just cook a little extra and feed her escort than feel guilty about eating proper food while he ate whatever version of field rations these ninja had.

Part of Hermione had wanted to ask that she be assigned another shinobi. But she knew that would call too much attention to her and precisely why she did not want Itachi. At the moment, Itachi was hopefully the only one to have seen her use her abilities. And she supposed she could use that to her advantage. When not haggling over the price of food, Hermione had spent her time before heading to the gate thinking over just how much to reveal to the boy. Finally, she'd decided that she would confine herself to spells which did not require the use of her wand-it was better if she left that in reserve, just in case-and that she would be relatively vague on the subject of the Wizarding.

Itachi was the only person other than the gate guards there when she arrived. The gate had been much busier when she'd entered the village. With a mental shrug Hermione walked over to the boy.

"Good afternoon, Uchiha-san."

"Hermione-san. Perhaps we should go over the mission parameters. I was told little other than that I was to act as your bodyguard while you traveled to Nami no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni in search of a member of your family," Itachi explained.

"Alright." Hermione motioned and they moved a couple yards from the gate guards. "I've been sent to speak to my uncle by my clan."

"What is this about the danger of him attacking you?"

"It's very unlikely." Hermione pointed out. But she felt the need to be at least partially truthful; this boy might be risking his life to protect her. "However there is a history of criminal insanity in my maternal grandfather's family. It's not something we generally speak about to outsiders."

Hermione took off her back pack and pulled out the map. With a word she activated it and began to look through it. The dot in Kaminari no Kuni had moved to another part of the country, and Tenzo was on his way back to Konoha, but those were the only changes.

"Uchiha-san, which country is safer; Nami no Kuni or Kaminari no Kuni?"

Itachi tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm trying to decide which country we go to first."

"Nami no Kuni is safer. They are trading partners with Hi no Kuni and have no hidden village-though there is a large contingent of samurai. I believe there may be a shinobi clan or two native to the country, but they do not draw attention themselves."

"Alright, we're heading to Nami no Kuni first," she announced.

"Interesting map," commented Itachi. "Do you study fuinjutsu?"

"Yes," she admitted quietly. "What do you think would be the best way to get to this island?"

Itachi looked at the island she pointed to. "That island contains the biggest resort in Nami no Kuni. If I remember correctly, there should be a regular ferry from here-" He pointed to a dot demarking a coastal town. "-to the island. If not, we can hire a boat or try to find space on a merchant or fishing vessel."

"Ok. When we get there, could you please help me find a way to the island when we get there?"

"Of course. I merely need to know how much you're willing to spend."

"Why don't we speak about that while we walk," she suggested. "I'd like to get there as soon as possible."

Hermione allowed Itachi to lead her out of Konoha and into the forest. Neither spoke as they followed what Hermione had thought was a game trail until, nearly a mile later they came upon a dirt road. About a mile and fifteen minutes later she came to a stop. The ninja stopped, glancing about warily before turning to her.

"Is something wrong, Hermione-san?" asked Itachi.

"Is there anybody who can see or hear us?" asked Hermione.

"I don't see or sense anybody," said Itachi.

"Good," said Hermione. "Look, I know you've seen me use my abilities, Uchiha-san. Normally, I'd quite happily pretend that I didn't do anything so long as you continued to say nothing about it in my presence, but time is a huge issue right now. I'm on a very tight schedule and I don't have the time to dawdle by walking at this speed."

"What do you want me to do about it?" demanded Itachi.

"Nothing. I'm the one who's going to do something. I'm going to perform a… family technique which will allow me, and anybody I take with me to cover ground in a way a horse would never be able to accomplish. What you need to do is hold on to my arm while I perform this technique so that it affects you as well."

Itachi gave her a measuring look. "What is this technique, precisely?"

"It allows a person to cover a number of yards with only a step. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. I've been using it extensively. Baasan taught it to me."

"Why would you use such a technique instead of another?"

"It's the least dangerous technique I know of to cover hundreds of miles within a day. Admittedly, we don't have much time before we need to stop for the night, but we should be able to cover…" Hermione glanced at the position of the sun. "At least sixty miles before we stop for the night. Yeah, it takes a bit of energy, but there's no chance of leaving body parts littered across the country and no chance of dropping us off a cliff or burying ourselves under a mountain like there is with other techniques I can think of. Not to mention that so long as this technique is in effect, we can only encounter another sentient being if they're using the technique as well. Which mean's you'll only really have to worry about protecting me while we've stopped."

"How does this technique you want to use do this exactly?"

Hermione shrugged. "All I know is what my grandmother told me. We didn't exactly have much time to do more than talk about how to do it and what its limitations and advantages were."

After a long moment of silence Itachi nodded. "I will try it."

"Take my arm," Hermione held out her right arm.

He did as instructed, though somewhat hesitantly. Hermione gathered her magic-substantially more than she'd used for herself-and stamped her foot twice, expelling it into the ground. She then put her arm down.

"You can let go now. Let's hope this worked."

She walked forward, not bothering to wait for Itachi to do so. However he quickly caught up to her. Neither spoke for several long minutes.

"Why are you on such a short schedule?" asked Itachi.

Hermione let out a sigh, then she began to explain. "Baasan is ill-dying. She wants to talk to my uncle before she dies. So she sent me to find him."

"What is she dying of?" asked Itachi.

"Some sort of cancer. I'm not even supposed to know that much. My mother was very upset that Andy-basan told me that. It's terminal, but my parents were trying to find a treatment to keep her alive longer when I left three days ago."

"Why were you sent?"

"Well… I'm the only person in the family other than Baasan who can use chakra and isn't in jail for the rest of their life."

"Jail?" asked Itachi, his tone insistent.

"Like I said before, ojiisan's family is known for criminal insanity."

Tactfully, Itachi decided to remain silent after that. It seemed Itachi was not particularly talkative when he wasn't trying to pry information out of her. Hermione decided she could live with that.

When the sun began to set, Hermione announced, "I think we should stop for the night. I'd like to have a fire tonight. Could you help me find a place to set up camp?"

"What about that jutsu you used?" asked Itachi.

"It only actually works when you're on a road or a trail or path. If you go more than ten yards from a road, it ends the technique."

"Oh." Itachi looked about, his gaze settling on a mountain range. "If we cover a couple more miles, there's a good spot to camp near a small stream."

"Alright."

At Itachi's signal they stepped off the road some twenty minutes later. Nearly a mile off the road, they came upon a small clearing a dozen yards from a stream. Hermione busied herself with setting up a proper fire with sticks Itachi had retrieved as her father had shown her-Jack Granger had spent nearly a decade in the military before he'd gone on to enter dental school-and then setting up her tent and bedroll. It was one thing to sleep under the stars when she was alone, a completely different thing when she was with a male. She wasn't precisely sure where Itachi was, but he'd said something about setting up traps and securing the camp.

Hermione walked over to the creek refilled her canteen. Once back at the fire she began to put together a stir fry big enough for the two of them to eat for dinner. It was relatively simple to do and she had all the ingredients with her. By the time Itachi came back, Hermione had set out two bowls and put one set of chopsticks on her lap. Itachi should have his own chopsticks, but she had extra just in case he did not. She'd also changed from her kimono into simple pale green nightgown she generally wore at school and a pair of rubber soled slippers as night clothing. Her hair had already been taken down, brushed and tied into a single plait so long it had to be held on her lap so it did not fall in the dirt.

"I made dinner for us," Hermione said, stating the obvious. "And I put a fire together since nobody else was here."

"You didn't have to do that," said Itachi.

"No offense meant, but in my experience, most boys our age generally have family to cook for them and grown men don't know how to cook beyond the most basic of meals either." Hermione let out a laugh. "My father's far older than you and the extent of his culinary skills is handing somebody field rations and telling them to enjoy. He spent a decade in the army before he met and married my mother and even that didn't teach how to cook without turning whatever he was making into a lethal weapon."

"So where did you get the food?" asked Itachi.

Hermione smiled. "I have about two or three weeks worth of food for the two of us sealed up at the moment."

"Oh."

Itachi took the spatula and split the food relatively evenly. Hermione did not object when he handed one bowl to her. Instead she began to dig in. She was rather hungry from all that walking and the spell.

"So what does your uncle look like?" asked Itachi.

"I have no idea. The only picture I've seen of him was from when he was half my age. He ran away before he was eight and my family hasn't seen him since my aunt, Hermione's funeral when they were ten or eleven. I know he has eyes the same color as mine and that his hair is white. From what I understand, he got into some sort of incident with Hermione-basan using chakra on him when they were around seven and it turned his hair from dark brown to white. But he may be dyeing his hair."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My mother told my sister and I about it-" She stopped short at that thought. "When we were younger. It was one of the few stories she ever told me about them."

"How do you plan to find him?" said Itachi.

Hermione pulled the pendant out from under her dress. "This and that map from earlier. My pendant allows me to feel which direction blood relations are in. The stronger the pull, the more closely related we are. But it only really works within a ten mile or so radius. The map shows all living blood relations within three generations in either direction in real time."

"May I see the map?" asked Itachi.

Hermione handed it over. He unrolled it and looked at the runes written around the border. "Activate it, please."

Hermione spoke a single word.

Itachi looked it over carefully. "I recognize our location, but there are four others."

Hermione motioned. "Those two are Tenzo and Naruto. I think they're my cousins. I haven't had a chance to check out the other two yet. That's why I don't know whether my uncle's in Nami no Kuni or Kaminari no Kuni."

"Where's the rest of your family?" asked Itachi.

"Where we live is beyond the bounds of the map," Hermione explained.

Itachi gave her a wide eyed look before he nodded his understanding. Shortly thereafter, Hermione rinsed the bowls and cooking utensils before turning in for the night.

* * *

The next morning Hermione awoke at dawn. She quickly bathed and dressed in the wave patterned kimono from two days prior and put her hair back into the twin buns. Hermione then took down the tent and put it away along with her bedroll.

Once that was done, she went about cooking quite a bit of rice while she prepared breakfast. By the time Itachi was awake, dressed, and done checking to make sure the camp was still secured-Hermione was shaping the rice into onigiri while occasionally stirring the miso soup and flipping the fish. What rice did not go into the onigiri would be part of their breakfast. Once the onigiri was shaped with umeboshi or okaka in the center and a piece or nori wrapped around the rice, she placed them atop a large cloth in the basket she'd made several days prior, making sure to keep the two different types separate.

"That's quite a bit of food," said Itachi as he sat himself down across from Hermione.

"The onigiri is for lunch. I don't want to stop for longer than absolutely necessary. Everything else is breakfast. Feel free to serve yourself some food."

"Where did you learn to cook over a campfire?" asked Itachi.

Hermione smiled. "My father and I go camping at least once a month and during the summer we can spend weeks at a time out in the wilderness. It was either learn to cook or suffer through my father's definition of a good, filling meal. And really, if I never eat field rations again, it'll be too soon."

Hermione tilted her head. "Do you think twelve are enough? I have a couple apples and bananas as well for snacks between meals."

"How much are you planning on eating?" Itachi seemed flabbergasted.

Hermione supposed that reaction would be normal. Twelve onigiri the size she was making them along with the snacks she had planned would be enough for five or six normal people. But then again, what wasn't eaten today would be fine until tomorrow while sealed.

"Well, because of my abilities, I generally eat a lot-my mother says I eat more than a teenage boy. I'm probably going to have anywhere between five and six onigiri simply because of the exercise I'll be doing in combination with using that technique for hours on end." Hermione tried to figure out how to explain. "I go through so much energy using techniques that I need to keep myself properly fueled or I won't be able to… use techniques like the one I showed you yesterday. And since you use chakra and obviously exercise and fight, I thought it would be best to keep you well fed as well."

Itachi seemed to accept her statement rather well. "It just surprised me. Most females your age that I know try to diet without realizing the effect that has on their ability to use chakra."

Hermione nodded. "That happened with one of my roommates, Lavender-we go to school together. Anyway, Pomfrey-sensei, the school… medic, ended up giving all the girls in our year a very long-and stern-lecture on eating properly after she found out."

After breakfast, they set out once more. Hermione had sealed the basket of onigiri into a handkerchief so that it would stay better preserved than if she carried it. Nearly four hours later, Hermione insisted on taking a small break and sat down on a fallen tree next to the road. She pulled the handkerchief out from where it was tucked into her right sleeve and unsealed three bananas.

"Snack?" said Hermione.

Itachi took one, choosing not to comment on Hermione keeping the other two. Hermione ate the banana in several large bites. She hadn't realized how hungry she was. Unfortunately, she had no intention of stopping for lunch until an hour or two after noon-which meant she would not eat again for at least another three hours. Fighting off hunger, Hermione unpeeled the second banana and began to eat far more slowly.

"Half an hour for the break-or do you need longer?" asked Hermione.

"That should be fine," said Itachi after looking Hermione over.

Hermione pulled out the scrolls her grandmother had given her. She might as well study, since she had the chance. She unrolled the scroll on using magic without a wand after a moment of thought. Hermione had a feeling it was more likely to come in handy on this trip. And she wasn't completely sure she could trust Itachi to protect her. Not to mention that her parents had made sure she knew first aid-which in combination with the healing potions she had should be enough. Hopefully.

Itachi tilted his head to the side, looking at the scroll with his eyes that had inexplicably been deep gray, despite her clear memory of bright red eyes. In fact, she'd not seen the red eyes since that first, strange meeting.

With a sigh, Hermione resealed the scrolls and stood when half an hour had passed according to her watch. "You ready to leave?"

"Yes."

They were silent for well over an hour before Hermione decided enough was enough. Yes, the quiet was nice after spending months on end with Ron and Harry and sharing the Common Room with the rowdy Gryffindors-particularly the kings of mischief Fred and George-but there was only so much quiet she could take.

"Do you want to play a game or talk about something, anything?" asked Hermione as she fidgeted.

"Why?"

"I understand if you want to concentrate on your job, but there's only so much silence I can take. It's not like I can keep myself busy by reading while I walk. I would appreciate it greatly if you and I were to talk about-well I don't really care what we talk about."

"What do you suggest we speak about, then?"

"I don't know… Wait. Have you ever played twenty questions?"

"What is twenty questions?"

"It depends. The traditional game would be that one of us would think of somebody-probably famous-or an item and the other would ask up to twenty yes or no questions and try to divine an answer based upon what the answers to questions were. But honestly, I don't think we know each other's cultures' celebrities well enough to play. So instead, I think we should each take turns asking the other questions to get to know each other better."

"What are the limits of the questions?" Itachi seemed intrigued.

"Nothing untactful. Questions must be answered truthfully," Hermione paused, thinking. "However, you may choose not to answer the question because you do not feel comfortable doing so or you are not permitted to. No lies by omission unless you specify that there is something you cannot or will not speak about."

"That is acceptable."

"Ok… Do you want to start?" There was no response. "Right. So… why did you choose to become a shinobi?"

"I have responsibilities and expectations I am expected to fulfill. Becoming a nin is one of those. Are you a civilian?"

"Yes, I am. And I've no intention of joining any military. Ever. So what do you like to do when you're not on missions?"

"Please specify."

"What are your hobbies?"

"I do not have any hobbies."

Hermione goggled at him. "You cannot be serious. You must have hobbies of some sort."

"I do not."

"That's not healthy. You should have something you enjoy doing that helps you wind down from the stress of being a shinobi."

"Why do you carry a tessen hidden as a lady's fan?"

She gave him a look which made it clear that she'd not forgotten his dodging of her question. "It's incredibly useful, I prefer not to carry something which is obviously a weapon and my mother has taught me to use it since I was old enough to hold one. I'll admit, I could be far more skilled in tessenjutsu but I've not had the chance to practice recently. Although that's something I intend to rectify. Do you have a favorite weapon?"

"Kunai-they are the most versatile of the standard shinobi weapons. What do you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"As you are a civilian, you must do something, be it an apprenticeship or something else. So what do you do?"

"I'm a student at a school run by… my people. At the moment the school is on break until September. I just finished my first year and I have six more to go. Technically, it is considered a seven year apprenticeship. How old are you."

"I turned twelve several days ago-on the ninth. You?"

"I'm twelve as well. I'll be thirteen in mid-September-the nineteenth. The Hokage called you a Chunin, what does that mean?"

"It is the level of skill a nin possesses. Genin are students; apprentices trained by Jonin. Chunin are journeyman nin who have proven themselves more mature and skilled than Genin and that they no longer need a Jonin to supervise them. Jonin are master shinobi. ANBU are the elite. They are special ops. The best of the best. What do you study at the school you attend?"

"I'm trying to decide what I can tell you without facing my government's wrath. My people do not appreciate their secrets being told to outsiders. We study history, plants, methods of using chakra, the very basics of using chakra in self defense and how to make potions for the first two years. After that, we must choose to study two or more of the following: fuinjutsu, mathematics, how to care for animals which are… not normal, divination, and there is a culture class as well in addition to the core classes. We're tested in each subject we take at the end of our fifth year, and if we are skilled enough in a subject, we are permitted to study it further in far more depth during the last two years of our schooling. Why did your eyes change from red to gray?"

He seemed a little startled by that. "Like many members of the Uchiha clan I posses the Sharingan, an ocular kekkei genkai. When I use it, my eyes are red, as you saw. When it is inactive, they are gray."

"Oh."

"Why do your people have a school which teaches such things when at least some of the students are not going to become shinobi?"

"You just have to answer the hard questions, don't you? Let's see if I can answer this without committing treason. One of my roommates used to set fires with a thought, back before she began to attend the school. Another person I know used to make things move without touching them. We're taught to use chakra because it's more dangerous to leave us untrained. Because if we are not taught, then as we and the amount of energy we have at our disposal grows, we pose a danger to ourselves and those around us because we don't know how to control what we can do. Are only ninja taught to use chakra around here?"

"Monks and shinobi are taught to use chakra. Samurai are taught to counter its use. What did you used to do that necessitated your enrollment in this school?"

Hermione looked down, her discomfort with the subject clear. "Just before I turned nine, I made a table explode. In situations of extreme emotional distress, our… abilities tend to act up. And no, I'm not telling you anything else about that incident. Do you have any siblings?"

"A younger brother-his name is Sasuke. You?"

"I had a sister. Her name was Tobi." Hermione let out a sigh. "So what does the Sharingan do?"

"It allows the user see through low level genjutsu, see chakra flow, and gives the user the ability to see in a detail most are incapable of, thereby allowing the user to copy jutsus. Beyond that is something I will refrain from speaking of. Why do you speak of your grandfather's family as you do? As if they are a danger to you and others?"

"Baasan's husband-my grandfather-was a Dolohov. The Dolohov clan is known, among other things for their criminal activity and insanity. At least in current generations. I know they were involved with the Mob-uh, that's what we generallly call the Yakuza where I'm from. Ojiisan's younger brother killed both Ojiisan and his middle daughter-Hermione-basan-a couple decades ago. Anyway, my great-uncle was sentenced the _Dementor's Kiss_-it's a method of execution. My great-uncle's son, Antonin, was a real peace of work. He did things that… well personally I think he should have been executed, not sentenced to life in prison. I mean, he and his psychotic little friends tortured, raped, and murdered I don't want to think of how many innocent people and the bastard get's sent to prison." Hermione took several calming breaths. Now was not the time to get into precisely how she felt about the Dolohovs, and Death Eaters in general. "In any case, I don't really consider them family-my great grandfather disowned Ojiisan and all his descendants-which includes me and my uncle-posthumously. From what I've been told, after my aunt was murdered, my uncle refused to have anything to do with Baasan. My aunt Hermione-I'm named for her-and my uncle were twins. I think it hit him really hard. In my opinion, I don't think my uncle is a threat to me, but I can't completely discount the possibility considering our family history. So are all your family members shinobi?"

"Most of the men in the clan are. They make up almost the entirety of Konoha's police force. Most women in the clan are civilians or choose to retire as shinobi once they marry. Why do you think this Tenzo and Naruto are your cousins?"

"My uncle is the only member of my family I can think of who's related to me closely enough to come up on the map. I'm relatively sure they're his children or grandchildren. I mean, Tenzo and I actually do share several facial features which I've also seen on my mother and my mother's sister. And Naruto… Naruto's like a blonder, younger twin of sister who happens to be male. Do you like to read?"

"I enjoy reading pertinent history books."

"You like history as well?" Hermione grinned. "It's my favorite subject that doesn't have to do with chakra. I love it."

"What is your uncle's name?"

"Jiraiya-I'm not sure what family name he's using and I highly doubt it's Dolohov. There are a couple possibilities. Baasan's family name was Mori-he might be using that-but I'm relatively sure he's using the Namikaze name. It was Baasan's mother's clan's name. From what I've been told, she was the last surviving member of the clan and Jiraiya-jisan was very close to his grandmother."

"And?" Itachi looked at Hermione in a way which made it clear that he knew she'd not yet told him everything.

"The grave we spoke at belonged to somebody I was closely related to, according to my pendant. If Namikaze Minato was not my uncle's son, my pendant isn't working properly. Because if there are any Namikaze left other than those descended from Jiraiya-jisan, we're so many generations removed our relation to each other isn't worth mentioning." Hermione let out a sigh. "Assuming they're even members of the same Namikaze clan. What were you doing in the cemetery?"

"I was visiting the grave of my cousin, until I felt your use of chakra. Since it was highly unusual for anybody to use chakra within a cemetery, I chose to watch you. Most civilian girls would complain about this much walking. Why don't you?"

"Well first of all, I'm relatively in shape. I mean, I'm not about to run a couple miles, but walking is no big deal," Hermione explained. "The school I attend is in one of the largest castles in the country. We have to walk a couple miles every day just to get to all our classes and meals and everything else there is to do." Although in all fairness, she did tend to run around to more out of the way parts of the castle and grounds than most. "Secondly, I told you before my father and I go camping all the time, right? We've not gone camping recently because I was off at school, but walking all day is one of the things we would do when we did go camping. We'd go out into the middle of nowhere and go hiking up a mountain or climb up steep cliffs. In comparison, what we're doing right now really isn't that strenuous. I mean, using that technique tires me out like I've been hiking in the _Swiss Alps_, but it's really not that bad." Hermione shrugged. "May I ask what the police in Konoha do?"

"They police the ninja of the village."

"Wow. That sounds like an important job." Hermione's awe was obvious. "My people have a police force like that as well. Only the best of the best are ever accepted because of just how difficult the job is."

There was a twitch at the edge of Itachi's mouth which might have been a smile. It was somewhat hard to tell with the taciturn nin. "I know you said you were entrusted with this task because you can use chakra, but why were you the one sent to retrieve your uncle? It seems like far too dangerous a task for a civilian."

"It's… how do I explain this… Have you ever heard of the Impossible Task?"

"No."

"Right, this is what my people would call an Impossible Task. As the name suggests, it's supposed to be seemingly impossible. The task is doable, just very difficult to accomplish and often very dangerous. The entire point of the Impossible Task is to prove yourself worthy. Before you ask, when I was told of the task, it was suggested that I hire one or more of Konoha's shinobi to act as both protection and a guide." Hermione let out a sigh. "Mind if I practice tessenjutsu as we walk? I may not be able to read, walk, and keep the technique going at once, but tessenjutsu shouldn't be that much of a problem."

"If you want."

With Itachi's permission, Hermione unhooked her backpack from one shoulder and spun the bag around. Hands buried in her pack, she found the proper handkerchief and released the heavy metal tessen. Hermione pulled it out, closed her backpack and moved the backpack back into it's proper position.

She may not have been brave enough to bring her tessen to Hogwarts with her, but she'd managed to remain relatively in practice by doing kata with a normal fan. Unfortunately, normal fans did not have the same heft to it, completely throwing her balance off. Unwilling to stop to do kata, Hermione satisfied her urge to practice by first getting herself used to it's weight and how it moved. When they stopped for lunch, she'd do some kata before they continued onward.

Itachi gave her a measuring look as he watched her move through the various exercises she felt comfortable doing while walking before asking, "Do you know taijutsu?"

"Nope. I don't know the first thing about any form of physical fighting other than tessenjutsu. Other than how to use chakra and the Sharingan, may I ask what you learned to become a ninja?"

"History, science, mathematics, literature, trap making, tracking, tactics, stealth, taijutsu and the use of certain weaponry such as kunai and shuriken are taught to all who attend the Ninja Academy. Where are you from?"

"The other side of the mists," Hermione said without much thought. At Itachi's blank look, she shook her head. "Sorry. I should have realized you wouldn't understand the reference. I'm from a country called the _United Kingdom_-which would be loosely translated as the United Kingdom. It's an island nation composed of England, Scotland, Whales, and parts of Ireland very, very, very far to the west of here. But if you want to be more particular, my parents and I were in Japan visiting my grandmother. Well, my parents are probably still there. Japan… is very close to the elemental countries. How old were you when you became a ninja?"

"I was seven when I graduated from the Ninja Academy."

Hermione gave him a horrified look. "Seven? That's so young."

"I graduated much earlier than most. Why were you in Japan?"

"Baasan and her family are from Japan. But Ojiisan and the Dolohov Clan are from the _United Kingdom_-Northern England near Hadrian's Wall to be exact. My mother grew up in Japan and then went to a medical school in London-the capital of the _United Kingdom_. My father's fromWhales originally. He was in his last year of school and my mother in her first when they met. They got married and my father set up a practice in London while my mother finished school. My parents and I live in London, you see. What do your parents do?"

"My father is head of the police force and my mother is a house wife. Your parents are doctors?"

"Sort of. They're dentists." Hermione shook her head. "You have no idea what I just said, do you? They're doctors who specialize in teeth. Before you ask, they both attended fully certified medical schools."

"At this pace, we'll reach the town I mentioned within the next half hour," said Itachi, changing the subject. "A boat will take at least two hours to reach the island."

"Alright. I suppose we can eat while on the boat or while we wait for the boat."

Itachi nodded his agreement. "What is your budget for the boat?"

"I honestly don't know. I'd prefer it if it were cheap. Just find us a way across with a sound boat that doesn't belong to pirates or smugglers and I'll pay."

With that, Hermione sealed the tessen back into the handkerchief and pulled out a couple of the silver coins. She slid the coins into a small purse she kept on her body so that people didn't see her use fuinjutsu and wonder.

"Where did you learn fuinjutsu?" asked Itachi. "You said you had not begun studying it yet."

"Independent study, mostly. I was searching for information on an… unrelated field of study, which led me to a book that combined both fuinjutsu and said unrelated field. To understand it properly, I had to study fuinjutsu. Actually, that book's where I got the seals for the pendant and the map. And no, tracking was not the field of study I'm talking about. It's just a very useful book on a wide range of subjects. Baasan taught me how to seal and unseal items. But in all honesty, I'm really a novice in the field of fuinjutsu. Have you studied fuinjutsu?"

"Not in any great detail," admitted Itachi. "I know how to seal items, make exploding notes, and some other basic seals. More than that would require me to study under another nin."

"I could explain the basics of fuinjutsu to you if you want," Hermione offered quietly. "I've the proper books with me. I mean, other than the runes, they're all in English, but I can translate for you."

"English?"

"It's the language of the _United Kingdom_. Well, there are place where other language are spoken, but everybody raised in the country knows _English_. Before you ask, I've been bilingual since I've been able to speak. This language is the same language spoken in Japan. My mother taught us it when we were very young."

"How many languages do you know?"

"I never bothered to count. I'm fluent in_ English_ and this language obviously. My father taught me _Welsh_, the language of_ Whales_. I can read both classical_ Latin_ and ancient _Greek_. I know enough _French_ for casual conversations. I've recently been learning _Russian_. That's it. Then again, seals are made by using runes and runes are just a language used to give chakra a form, so I suppose you could say that I'm learning the language of runes as well."

"Runes are a language? I knew the symbols had meanings, but…"

"Well, at least now I know what your first lesson on fuinjutsu will be," Hermione said happily.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: There is some action in this chapter, but as it's entirely from Hermione's point of view, there really isn't all that much to it. As for the last scene in the chapter, that will be explained further in the next chapter. More on that, I cannot say without revealing far too much.

* * *

Chapter 4

"Why are they separated?" asked Itachi.

"Different flavors," Hermione explained as she grabbed one of the onigiri. "The group to the left is filled with okaka. To the right is umeboshi."

Itachi nodded before picking up one filled with okaka. The duo were on a medium sized fishing boat on their way to Nami no Kuni. The sailboat was moving through the waves at an impressive speed Hermione had not been sure was possible without a motor of some sort. The duo was a good twenty feet away from the fishman and his son who had confined themselves to the middle and back of the boat unless manipulating the sails or completing some other necessary task. There was a ferry to the island, but it only ran at midmorning and dusk and Hermione had not wanted to wait.

She'd not mentioned it to Itachi, but the _all paths are one_ technique was really very tiring. Far more tiring than she'd let on. It was like doing animate to inanimate and back again transfiguration over and over again. This was not to say she was incapable of keeping it going. More that she would probably need twice as many breaks. As it was, she estimated she'd used up something close to a fifth or a fourth of her magic over the course of the morning.

Perhaps it was worth it to study portkeys or apparition in more detail. With that thought, she pulled out her copy of _Runic Solutions for Modern Problems_ and turned to the section on magical travel. It did not contain anything on the_ all paths are one _spell, but it did talk about portkeys, apparition, travel by fire, the runes to create flying brooms and carpets, and other methods.

They were silent for several minutes as they dug into the onigiri. To Hermione's surprise, she ended up eating seven of the large rice balls while Itachi stopped at five. She tried to offer him the last, but he merely shook his head. With a shrug Hermione ate her eighth onigiri. The fisherman seemed a bit surprised by how much she'd eaten, but Hermione was used to that reaction from Muggles. In fact, she still felt a bit hungry. But she was relatively sure that if she gave her stomach some time to realize how much was in there, she would be fine.

"What are you reading?" asked Itachi, curiosity finally winning. He was speaking at a normal volume, but Hermione had to pay close attention to even hope to hear him over the sounds of the ocean and the wind.

"The name would translate as Runic Solutions for Modern Problems. It's the book I told you about earlier. Right now I'm looking at its section on… travel techniques."

"Looking for anything in particular?"

"Something that uses less energy. Unfortunately I keep running into the same problems I mentioned earlier."

"Ah. Is there any way I can help?"

"No. It's one thing to use one of my people's… techniques in your presence. So long as I don't actually spell out how the techniques work, at most they'll exile me should they find out. They'd imprison me-or possibly execute me if I tried to teach you one of them. They're very fond of their privacy." Hermione let out a sigh and closed the book, keeping her finger in place. "I… look, I've already told you far more than I should have. By my people's laws I should have erased the memory of what you saw me do when we first met. That I've not done so, that I've continued using chakra in your presence could have me branded a traitor if my government finds out. The only thing I have going for me at the moment is that I haven't told you anything specific about our abilities or tried to teach you them."

"Then why have you told me this much?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know how to erase a person's memories and even if I did, I would not feel comfortable doing so. It isn't something they teach first years. Or really anybody other than government employees. And like I told you before, I don't have the time to deny my abilities by traveling the normal way. Nor do I feel confident enough in my ability to defend myself to travel alone. And from what I've seen so far, there are probably only a handful, if any of my people in the elemental countries. That means that technically my people's governments and laws do not precisely… extend to here. But I'm not going to risk my government having a different view of the extent of their laws should they find out. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison."

She looked down and then met Itachi's dark grey eyes. "I didn't hide what I was because of your eyes. Amongst my people, eyes which are not… normal in color just mean that a person has something not quite human in their family tree somewhere. It's really quite normal. I can think of at least seven students in my year with something other than a normal eye color."

"Memory erasure is standard procedure?" asked Itachi, apparently deciding to ignore her comment on his sharingan.

"Yeah. Unless you're related to one of us by blood or marriage, standard procedure is to have _Obliviators_ come and erase the memory of anybody who sees us use our abilities or is told about us. I don't even want to think of how many of my people's laws I've broken in the last week."

"Obri-what?"

"_O-bli-vi-a-tors_," she said slowly. "They are attached to both our police force and our army. It's their job to ensure our people's secrecy, clean up the… messes we make. They also interrogate prisoners."

Itachi nodded his understanding. "That thing you did with the plants… can all your people do that?"

"I don't know. I don't think so," she admitted. Hermione curled up, wrapping her arms around her knees. "_Transfiguration_-that's one of the methods of using chakra we study-is probably the closest thing to what I do with plants I can think of, but even in _transfiguration_ we don't learn to do things like that. I asked McGonagall-sensei-the _transfiguration_ teacher-if it was possible to make plants grow as you want with _ma_-uh, chakra and she told me it wasn't. And Sprout-sensei-she teaches us about plants-told me that being able to talk to plants was ridiculous. That nobody can talk to a tree or a flower or a vine and expect it to talk back. Pince-san, the librarian, told me not to waste her time on the imaginings of those who know nothing of how to use chakra. I didn't bother to ask anybody else. It didn't seem like it was worth it to destroy my reputation as an intelligent, relatively obedient student to continue my search."

The fisherman's son ran past them and they ducked as instructed while the position of the sail changed. It was several minutes before they were once more relatively alone.

"You can talk to plants?"

"Normal ones, yes. They like me. If the plant has any sort of intelligence, it's a different matter entirely. But normal plants and trees are always willing to talk to me or do what I want, so long as I provide it enough energy. It's how I found you-the trees told me your position in those branches. I could even make the wood of this boat do what I want, but I don't particularly feel like risking us sinking because I made a mistake. Did you-did you copy what you saw me doing?"

Itachi shook his head. "I used my Sharingan to watch you and memorize what you did, but it was impossible for me to copy. Even if I memorize something, I am limited by my own skills. Manipulating plants is something I am incapable of."

"Oh," said Hermione. "I guess that answers that question."

"What question?"

"How I'm able to do what I can with plants." She rested her chin on her knees. "We don't really have a general name for it, but there are those among my people who can do things that nobody outside of themselves, or possibly those they're descended from can do. It's one of the other signs somebody has something not quite human in their ancestry somewhere."

"Is that common?"

"Not really. There are maybe six thousand of my people in the _United Kingdom_. Of those six thousand, somewhere between twenty and forty have… talents that nobody else does. And that's guessing based on the number actually willing to admit they had such talents."

"What sort of talents?"

Hermione shrugged. "There are those who can do anything with metal. The _Black_ Clan is known for producing metamorphmagi. A metamorphmagus is a shape shifter who can change their soft tissue and pigmentation. But the _Black_s are a dead clan. The head of the clan is in prison for life and the only other living members are his cousins. His cousins were all women married out of the clan. Although I think one of the women was disowned from the clan for eloping with somebody the clan didn't approve of. She and her husband now own the largest green houses in the country which is currently catering to a tenth or so of my people's potions needs within the country." She blushed. "I was curious about the head of the clan-he committed a huge crime and is one of my people's more infamous criminals, you see-and his cousins came were spoken about in the book."

Itachi tilted his head to the side. "What defines a person as a member of your people?"

"We can use _mag_-uh, it's how we can use chakra, you see," explained Hermione. "We have so much… energy that it sometimes gets out when we feel extreme emotions or are in danger. We can use chakra in ways that people who are not members of our people can-like _transfiguration_."

"What is transfigu…ration?"

Why did she care so much about the Statute of Secrecy? In that moment Hermione realized how ridiculous she was being. She was in the middle of attempting to complete an Impossible Task so that she would prove herself worthy enough to study necromancy; an art forbidden by the Wizarding. She was in another world where the Statute of Secrecy likely did not exist and she'd been babbling at this boy, telling him things she never should have revealed for more than a day. What did it matter? At this rate, she was going to tell this boy everything about the Wizarding anyway. Not that she intended to tell him all her secrets. And all because he was the only person outside of her family who wasn't put out by her intelligence-she'd not bothered with an I.Q. test, but few eleven year olds, even those already well into their secondary education such as herself could take their A-Levels and achieve a score much better than the national average. Sure, she was paying him to protect her, and she was aware, on some level that he'd taken her proposed game as an excuse to pry more information from her, but Hermione could not bring herself to care. After all, he'd made the choice to be somewhat friendly with her. He was the first person she'd ever met other than Tobi who was willing to spend time around her without saving her from a troll first.

"I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb," she muttered in English. Hermione let out a sigh and put the book away. "If I show you an example, you must swear you will not tell anybody."

"What oath do you require?"

"That you will not speak of my showing you _transfiguration_ or acknowledge that you know what_ transfiguration_ is."

"If somebody is murdered with _transfiguration_ or some other crime is committed with it against my people, I will not remain quiet."

"I can accept that so long as I and my family are not named or implicated directed or indirectly."

"So long as you agree not to act against Konoha with this technique."

"Is it acceptable if I swear to use it against Konoha only in self defense?"

"Yes."

"Agreed. I swear that I will use _transfiguration_ against Konohagakure no Sato only in self defense or defense of others."

Itachi quickly swore his own oath.

"_Transfiguration_ is an art which would probably be translated as transfiguration. When one uses _transfiguration_, they change something on a molecular level. This change can be in shape, texture or material. It is also possible," Hermione flicked her wrist, allowing her wand to land in her left hand. "To change something animate to inanimate or inanimate to animate. Or animate to animate. And of course inanimate to inanimate."

Hermione flicked her wand. "_Accio_. That was a _charm_, not _transfiguration_," Hermione explained as she dexterously caught the rat she'd summoned. "_Stupefy_. That was a charm as well. _Charms_ are another branch of our study of chakra. What sort of thing would you like me to change the rat into?"

"What have you done to the thing already?"

"The first _charm_ pulled it to me. The second merely knocked it unconscious. It will be fine and remember nothing beyond being pulled to me when I'm done with it. I'm going to change it back to its original form when I'm finished."

Itachi seemed to consider it for a moment as Hermione was struck by the realization that he cared what happened to the poor animal. "Can you turn it to stone?"

"That's easy." With a wave of her wand she changed it to a small rock. Itachi's eyes, she noted, were red once more. "Or I can turn it into another animal." Another wave and the thing turned into a blue bird. "Or glass." Another wave and there was a delicate glass vase. "Or a cat." The vase turned into a small kitten. Itachi seemed completely stunned. "And now to change it back." Hermione waved her wand once more, to reveal a rat. She put it down several feet from her. "Now I'm going to wake it up. _Rennervate_. See, no permanent harm done."

The rat twitched then righted itself. It looked around, then ran from her, hiding within the boat once more.

"Every member of your people can do this?"

"Yeah. It's one of our core skills. Admittedly skill level varies. Some of what I did was above first year work, but I study ahead most of the time. My school may be against anybody skipping ahead, but they don't care if we study on our own so long as we don't break any laws and attend all our classes."

"They don't let you skip years or go through an accelerated program?"

"No. They'd never allow that," said Hermione. "You start schooling at eleven-never ten, occasionally at twelve-and finish when you're seventeen or eighteen. Nobody gets special treatment. Nobody gets to skip a year. From what I understand, my people have followed the rule that no child can be trained in _magic_-what we call our abilities- before they reach the age of eleven for several millennia. It's unhealthy to start training in the use of our magic too early because of the damage that can be caused by using our abilities before they mature to a certain point-which would generally be around the age of nine or so. And the school I attend believes that everybody should attend all seven years because of a couple incidents early on with prodigies who went through too quickly and as a result had problems later on in life-or caused problems for everybody else. Something about them not having a proper sense of responsibility or maturity and not being ready mentally or physically for using such advanced _magics_. There are a couple schools that allow accelerated training, but they don't have very good programs."

"What is your class ranking?"

"I'm currently first in all classes save Potions-where I'm second-and I'm the top student of my year overall."

She slid her wand back into the holster up her left sleeve. She had to admit, one of the things she liked about being left handed was that people rarely thought to check her left hand for a wand.

"What is the purpose of the stick?"

"It's a _wand_. A tool meant to aid in control. It's used to channel _magic_ from a person's body. Most of my people have so little control over their magic that they would be defenseless and completely incapable of accessing their_ magic_ without it."

"I assume you know how to use… _magic_ without this tool."

Hermione shrugged. "My people either use a _wand_ or fuinjutsu to access their _magic_. I'd say I could only do the same, but… I assume you can make an educated guess or two. It is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that a clan… such as the Namikaze might have an entire branch of study related to using _magic_ without a _wand_ or fuinjutsu. Of course that's ridiculous speculation. Nobody would practice something so decidedly illegal." Hermione glanced at her companion. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

Itachi grunted in reply. She took that to mean she could ask.

"What do you plan to do with your life? I mean, are you going to be a ninja all your life or do you want to join the police? Do you want to study fuinjutsu further-I understand if you don't. I won't force you to learn. I just tend to get ahead of myself and do things without thinking of other's feelings sometimes. I'll teach you what I know if you want. And if not, I understand."

"I would appreciate your aid in expanding my skills in fuinjutsu," Itachi said after a long moment of silence. "As for my plans for my life, they depend upon what is required of me by my clan. At the moment, my only plans are to expand my skills as a shinobi and attain the rank of Jonin. May I enquire as to your plans for your life?"

"Sure. If you'd asked me a month ago, I'd have told you I intended to become a _Healer_-that would translate as Healer, by the way. They're doctors who use magic to treat patients along with more typical treatments."

"And now?"

"Oh, I will continue to study medicine, but I'm unsure that is the profession I want to enter into after school. Fuinjutsu was not the only thing I had to study to understand my book properly-I had to study _arithmancy _as well. _Arithmancy_ is the mathematics of… it's the mathematics of chakra and magic and fuinjutsu. And I love it. I can't get enough of it. It's something that I want to study for the rest of my life. At the moment, I think I want to enter into an apprenticeship with a master _arithmancer_ once I finish school and eventually become a master of the subject myself."

"You study medicine?"

"Oh yes. I mean, I'm not supposed to know as much as my parents have taught me without entering a medical school of some sort, but yeah. Most of what I know is just first aid. I can also put in stitches and set simple fractures. I can treat most snake bites and burns. When my father and I go camping, we're so far away from civilization that he decided I needed an understanding of first aid so that if he were to be injured, I could deal with his wounds or if we were to be separated, I could deal with most injuries I might acquire." Hermione bit her lip. "And then Tobi… well after that neither of my parents could object to teaching me more about medicine than the basic first aid most are taught. And I've been studying my people's practice of medicine for the past year. When I actually had the time."

"How would you qualify your skill level?"

Hermione shrugged. "Without magic, I've been trained as a field medic-my father essentially put me through the same course on medicine as he went through when he was in the army. He was a field medic, you see. With magic, I can treat most trauma related injuries and plant or venom based poisons-that's what I've been focusing on. I still need to get myself up to speed when dealing with things such as illnesses and so on."

"Tobi is an… unusual name for a girl," Itachi said as he looked at the various ships around the port they were approaching.

"No stranger than Hermione. Or naming somebody Jiraiya. It's not common-for a girl anyway-but in the _United Kingdom_, it is technically both a male and a female name." She sniffled, fighting back the water she already felt collecting in her eyes.

As if sensing that his statement had bothered her, Itachi changed the subject. "How is Jiraiya an unusual name?"

"Have you ever heard the Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya?" asked Hermione.

"The what?" Itachi seemed somewhat put out by her question.

"It's a very old folk tale from Japan. Baasan named my uncle for the titular character, as you can no doubt tell. I'll tell you the story once we get off the boat. I practically have it memorized."

* * *

"Is there any age limit on gambling in Nami no Kuni?" asked Hermione, taking a break from telling an absolutely enraptured Itachi the story her uncle's namesake. She'd just gotten to the point where Jiraiya and his wife, the princess Tsunade had been poisoned by one of Orochimaru's serpents and fallen unconscious.

"No. People put age limits on gambling? Why do you ask?"

"Where I come from they do. I asked because whoever it is I'm looking for is in that gambling parlor."

Itachi nodded his understanding. "You should be prepared to gamble some money. They will not appreciate it if you do not."

"Do people around here play poker? It's the only card game I know other than exploding snap."

"Exploding snap?" echoed Itachi, blinking.

"Do you really want to know?"

Itachi gave a tight nod of acknowledgement. "There is probably a game or two of poker occurring within this establishment."

"Alright." Hermione gathered her courage and walked into the building, Itachi by her side.

Pretending to look at the various tables, Hermione slowly made her way through the large building. Finally, she sat down at a table with four other players. She glanced at the various players, including a woman with a face Hermione saw every morning in the mirror.

No, that did the other woman a disservice. Where Hermione had almost knee length wildly curly hair somewhere between dark sandy blonde and mousy brown, depending upon the amount of sun she received, the woman had pin straight mid-length soft, colorless blonde hair. Their faces were almost identical in shape, though there were differences around the mouth and chin. The woman's eyes were hazel, not dark brown like Hermione's and Hermione's eyes were larger-though not by much. Nor was Hermione's chest anywhere near a bountiful as the woman's. Actually, she hadn't really grown at all since her mother had gotten her a training bra over winter break.

Hermione turned her attention away from the blonde as the dealer began to hand out cards. She'd only ever played poker with her grandmother before. Concentration was necessary to avoid loosing whatever money she was going to bet.

* * *

"But I wanted to know what she was," hissed Hermione.

"I can tell you who she is," said Itachi as he all but pulled her from the gambling parlor and out into the street.

"What?"

"I know what that woman is, I've met her before," said Itachi as he pushed Hermione to the ground and moved to do something she couldn't quite see. However she could guess as seconds later a man fell to the ground, his throat slashed open. "It would be best if we left Nami no Kuni before any more mercenaries mistake you for the woman within."

"B-but what if they kill her," she protested as she got to her feet.

"Believe me, a kunoichi such as Tsunade-hime is more than capable of handling mercenaries of this level without our aid. My mission is to protect you, not to fight Tsunade-hime's battles for her."

"But-"

In that moment several men flew through the air past the duo. Hermione blinked before locating the source. There were now several vaguely man shaped holes in the wall of the gambling parlor.

"Ok," agreed Hermione. "Let's get going."

The next thing she knew, Itachi led her through back alleys and buildings until they were at the port once more. Within twenty minutes, he'd found them passage on yet another fishing vessel-this one with a motor attached to the back. It was one of the most advanced forms of technology she'd seen outside of Konoha within the elemental countries.

Hermione choose not to speak as they headed toward Hi no Kuni once more. Instead she thought about the strange incident which had lead to them leaving Nami no Kuni. She'd just won her second hand of poker when a large group of heavily armed and armored men had stormed the gambling parlor. The next thing she knew, Itachi had dragged her from the place, stopping occasionally to defend her from any of the mercenaries who mistook her for the woman she so resembled.

Half an hour or so after the boat left, they arrived the small port town Hermione and Itachi had left Hi no Kuni from earlier that day. Hermione choose to follow Itachi's instructions as they bypassed the town entirely. One road then another, changing directions several times until Hermione wasn't quite sure where they were. Finally, an hour after they got off the boat, they came to a stop.

"What now?" Hermione asked, pitching her voice so that it hopefully would not carry far.

"I doubt anybody has followed us back to Hi no Kuni yet, but to be sure, our trail has been sufficiently obscured to fool most," explained Itachi. "We should continue onward to Kaminari no Kuni-using that technique of yours."

"A-alright." The incident had shaken her more than she wanted to admit.

Hermione pulled out the map and activated the seal. Itachi, she noted, was looking over her shoulder. Finally, he pointed to a spot in a mountain range.

"We should be able to make it there by nightfall if we keep a steady pace. The Green River Pass isn't used much because the terrain makes it impossible for carts to get through and it's out of the way, but two people on foot should be fine. We'll go through the pass in the morning."

She nodded her agreement. The map was put away and Hermione quickly gathered her chakra and stomped her foot as Itachi held her arm. Then they walked forward, Hermione allowing Itachi to set the pace. That had been, she realized, more real, more frightening than going through those traps to find the Philosopher's Stone, but nowhere near as bad as nearly being killed by a mountain troll.

"Are you alright?" asked Itachi.

"I'm fine. You weren't injured, were you?"

"I am well."

"Good. Who was she-and why did those men want to kill her?"

"It's more likely they were sent by someone to convince Tsunade-hime to pay off her gambling debts," pointed out Itachi.

"I thought I'd misheard you, but you did say Tsunade. May I ask how you know her?"

"Senju Tsunade-hime is one of the Sannin, one of a team of three legendary shinobi from Konoha. She is both an unrivaled medic-nin and an expert on taijutsu, among many other skills. She is also far older than she looks. Tsunade-hime hides her real age with an illusion of herself in her twenties, rather than in her forties, as she is now."

Hermione nodded. "Vain, huh?"

"Somewhat." Itachi nodded. "One of her teammates was fellow Sannin Namikaze Jiraiya, master of fuinjutsu, among other things."

"I-" Hermione stopped, calming herself. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Namikaze Minato was the son of Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-hime," explained Itachi. "Mokuton-the ability to manipulate wood-is a kekkei genkai of the Senju clan."

She closed her eyes, trusting Itachi would not let her walk into a tree or trip. "I know what you're trying to imply and I honestly have no answer, only suspicions." Hermione opened her eyes and looked at the ground. She gave a strained smile and joked, "Don't tell me, the third Sannin was some man named Orochimaru."

Itachi gave her a look full of meaning.

"Nevermind," sighed Hermione. "Please, could you explain what, exactly, a kekkei genkai is?"

"Of course. Kekkei genkai occur most often in clans or families which are descended, as you say, from something not quite human. It is an ability a normal human would be incapable of duplicating, such as one of the clans in Kirigakure which possesses gills or the Uchiha's sharingan. Or the Senju's Mokuton."

"Oh hell," muttered Hermione. "Any human could use chakra, right?"

"Yes."

"Is it possible to possess two kekkei genkai?"

"It is improbable, but does occur on occasion. It is incredibly rare for a person with a kekkei genkai to reproduce with somebody with a different kekkei genkai. It seems to depend upon the type of kekkei genkai. Some, such as ocular kekkei genkai do not mix well. May I ask why you want to know?"

"I think magic is a kekkei genkai. The first magic user was a woman by the name of Otrera-we're all descended from her. All magic users, I mean. And magic is something only some people can use. The _United Kingdom_ has a population of several million, and there are only between six and seven thousand magic users in the country."

"It likely is. Please, explain what, exactly, magic does."

"I'll try. Magic is something you're born with. From what I understand, it thrives on genetic diversity. If one is too inbred-which happens far more often than you'd think-they'll be born without the ability to use magic, though they still carry the genes. Although I doubt you care about that…

"Alright, transfiguration, you've seen. We're also far more durable than normal humans. Our magic will generally interfere before we receive an injury. We also heal somewhere between ten and fifteen times faster than a normal human-how fast depends on several factors including power and fitness. Our metabolisms tend to be much quicker than that of a normal human."

"Define faster."

"We need to eat quite a bit-compared to some of my friends, I eat like a bird. Oh, and alcohol, it doesn't really do all that much to us. For me to even approach tipsy, I'd have to drink at least a gallon of beer." Hermione paused, "Like I told you earlier, our magic is nearly impossible to control until it matures, but it generally doesn't do anything unless we're in danger or we're in emotional distress. I'm not really sure what else there is to say about it. I don't really know enough about how to use normal chakra to explain any other differences."

Absentmindedly, Hermione pulled out her heavy tessen once more and began to practice. "But magic also seems to do things to your mind as well."

"Please, explain."

"There are forbidden arts which are more addictive than any drug. Certain _spells-_techniques only work correctly if you're in the right frame of mind or if you feel a certain emotion. And it seems to do something to our ability to use logic."

"What?" The last one seemed to alarm Itachi slightly.

"I think it's more noticeable to me because I was raised outside of my people. But most raised within my people tend not to think things through. They tend not to care much at all about logic. And sometimes it seem the more time I spend with them, the more I tend to make illogical decisions." Hermione bit her lip. "It scares me."

"Do you think it's because of magic?"

Hermione shook her head. "Yes. No… It's more like it's mostly the culture. But that magic also contributes to it as well. It's tough to care about logic when there's almost nothing you can't do with magic. Very little you can't change or fix or make with a wave of your wand."

Itachi nodded his understanding. "Have you considered playing logic games?"

"I haven't. But I suppose it's because we usually play chess-a strategy game-or cards or games of skill like _gobstones_. Thanks. Hopefully your suggestion will help."

"May I ask why you chose to give up medicine as a possible profession? It must be more than a change of interest, considering you claim to still want to learn it."

"In my home country-and all the surrounding countries-medical professionals, not including those such as field medics, swear the Hippocratic Oath. And I just cannot and will not swear that oath."

"Why?"

"Part of the oath is the words that you will 'first do no harm.' Even if a person is not a pacifist philosophically, by swearing the oath they become one in actuality. That oath doesn't just cover your patients, it covers every human being. And I just can't give up the right to defend myself nor the right to defend others. If I swear an oath, I'm going to keep it, and I just don't think I'd be able to keep the Hippocratic Oath."

"It didn't seem that important to you before."

"I've had a bad year. A bad couple of years. I doubt it's going to get any better anytime soon."

A little before the sun set behind a tall mountain, Itachi led Hermione off the path and into a cave. Though the entrance was small, it quickly opened up in the back, where tunnels and caverns led deeper into the mountain. Itachi showed her a cavern off the main part of the cave which led to a clear river.

"Be careful, the current is weakening, but it's still strong enough to pull you under should you leave the shallows near the shore. I'll set up our camp and do what else is needed if you want to bathe."

Hermione nodded her agreement and quickly took out her toiletries, towels, her slippers, underwear, and nightgown before putting her backpack several feet away from the shore. She placed her wand holster between her nightgown-dark blue this time-and the toiletries, hoping they would remain somewhat hidden. The rest of her clothing was put away as she stripped, hitting each item with a gentle cleaning spell as she went. Doing laundry wasn't exactly an option at the moment.

Once her body was washed and her legs and armpits were shaved she began the lengthy process of washing her hair. Because of its length and thickness, it was far too much trouble to wash it more often than every other day or so. Though she'd bathed to wash the dust of the road off, this was only the second time she'd washed her hair since she'd left Japan. She had to stand in water which barely reached her knees to work shampoo through her hair without the ends trailing in the water. She then went out to the edge of the shallows, where the current just began to pick up to duck under water and remove all the soap from her hair. Doubtless the river came from melting snow atop the mountain. As it was mid-July the snow melt was nearly gone and as a result the river's current was weaker than it would have been a month earlier. Hermione came back to the shore and carefully rubbed a large handful of conditioner along the length of her hair, starting at her head and working her way down. Steeling herself, she picked up a plastic hairbrush and began to work the knots from her hair from the bottom up. Unfortunately it had to done. If her hair was not brushed while the conditioner was in to make it easier, her hair would be a mass of knots when it dried. Unless braiding her hair, Hermione preferred not to brush her hair when it was dry unless she'd no other choice because that turned it into an impossible to control mass of bushy hair because of how curly it was.

Once the conditioner was rinsed from her hair, Hermione left the water. She wrapped the towel around her hair. Her hair up in the towel, she quickly dried the rest of her body before dressing. She sat down on a rock, took the towel off her head, put a galleon sized amount of conditioner in her hand and rubbed it into her hair to make it easier to manage. Hermione then began to comb out her hair before carefully braiding it. Normally she'd have let her hair dry loose, but she did not want to do so while camping. Nor did she feel like using more magic than absolutely necessary by using a spell after the day she'd had.

Hermione resealed all but her wand and holster, which were attached to her left arm as usual. She picked up her backpack and carefully followed the path she'd taken to the river.

"Uchiha-san, do you have anything in particular you want for dinner?" she asked as she approached a figure sitting at the fire.

Then she stopped short. The figure wore the same dark pants and wide collared shirt with a fan on the back as Itachi but his hair was cut relatively short and he was, now that she thought about it taller than Itachi. The man stood and turned, revealing the red eyes she occasionally saw in Itachi. His face, she noted, was similar to Itachi's, though the figure had to be several years older than her guard.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "And where is Uchiha-san?"

"I'm Uchiha Shisui," he said. "Itachi-kun's my cousin. You're Hermione-san, right?" At Hermione's hesitant nod, he continued. "My team ran into a bit of trouble and Itachi told me to stay here and guard you while he helped my teammates get here. He said you were trained as a medic?"

"Yes. I am. Both my parents are doctors and they've taught me. I'm not fully trained or anything, but I'm more than capable of dealing with trauma related injuries including broken bones so long as you don't expect me to do a surgery. Why?" Judging by what he'd said, Hermione had an idea of why he'd asked.

"Our team medic is injured. Severely injured. I know at least one of my teammates has a broken arm and the other a couple broken ribs," explained Shisui. "As I'm the only one who's uninjured, I'm guarding you."

"Fine," she said. "And I'll be the one to tell whether or not you're injured, not you."

She walked over to the fire. "I need to touch you to do the diagnostic."

"I'm not injured."

"You've already said that. And that does not change than I need to look you over as well."

"Fine," sighed Shisui.

Hermione touched Shisui's arm and gently pushed a burst of magic into his body. It was a basic diagnostic spell, the easiest of the diagnostic spells on the scroll her grandmother had given her and the third spell her grandmother had personally taught her before she left. It worked like radar. Essentially the magic bounced off of injuries or defects or other problems and came back to Hermione giving her a location to use a more exact spell upon.

It had briefly crossed Hermione's mind that this could be a trap. That he could be somebody who'd incapacitated or killed Itachi and was going to harm her as well. And then Hermione decided that there was really little she could do if that was the case. So she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt since he had the sharingan and one of those metal plates with a stylized leaf and since he knew of the medical skills she'd only revealed to Itachi. And if he turned out to be an enemy, she'd figure out what to do then. For now, she'd pretend to be absolutely helpless, beyond her medical skills. It was always better to be underestimated than overestimated.

"Alright," said Hermione. "You do realize that exhaustion is a serious problem, don't you? I recommend you rest-for at least a day before using chakra or your sharingan-and that you eat something. Your body is very close to shutting itself down. Other than that, you're right, you don't have any problems."

"What was that?"

"A diagnostic technique. And no, I'm not telling you anything further on what it is. It's a technique my family created."

"Why do you need a bodyguard?" asked Shisui as he began to set up a bedroll.

"I'm no kunoichi. I'm a civilian. Yeah, I've been trained in medicine, but I sure as hell don't know the first thing about fighting." Hermione began to search through her bag. "What sort of injuries does your team medic have?"

"She has a couple broken bones and we think some internal injuries. She was hit by what we think was a poisoned blade."

"Fuck!" snapped Hermione. What did she have for poisons with her? Nothing prepared, obviously. Then she stopped herself, took a moment to calm herself. There was a bezoar in her potions kit. Her potions kit was somewhere in one of her handkerchiefs.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: So, I know it's been absolutely forever since I last wrote anything for this story. In all honesty, I've had a half written chapter lying around on my computer for months. Anyway, I've recently been inspired to continue this story. Part of why I haven't written was because I couldn't decide what direction to go in. Anyway, I made up my mind and this is the result.

There are a couple revelations in this chapter that I hope doesn't upset too many. Also, like I said before, Itachi really doesn't know about all the horrors Orochimaru has inflicted upon others. I know I've said it before, but I wanted to make sure that nobody's forgotten.

And either Chapter 6 or 7 should finally include Jiraiya, who's been taking his sweet time in showing up. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully sometime soonish.

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

Hermione thrust several pots at Shisui. "Take these to the river and fill them with water. Then come back here and put them over the fire. I need them boiling."

"I can't leave you alone," protested Shisui.

"I need that water."

Shisui was gone in the blink of an eye. With a mental shrug Hermione began to unseal the various medical potions she'd brought with her; skelegrow, blood replenishing potion, a salve meant to reduce scarring and speed healing. Then she took out a needle and a spool of thread, cursing her lack of forethought. She should have brought sutures. She set out her potions kit and cauldron-chances were she'd need them before the night was through. Carefully Hermione stacked two boxes of gauze, five rolls of ace bandages, several rolls of tape, and a couple cloth bandages. Then Hermione pinned her hair in a crown about her head before tying a handkerchief without seals about her head to keep any hair from escaping.

Hermione then took out her family scroll. She didn't give Shisui much attention as he places the pots on the fire. Ah ha. Found it. There was a potion which used bezoar as a main ingredient in a salve meant for treating poisons introduced through wounds. And right below it was a potion which would take care of poisons within the body that the salve missed.

"Are you sure your medic was poisoned?" demanded Hermione.

"Yes. Why?"

"Just making sure. What's taking Uchiha-san and your teammates so long?"

"We'd just entered the Green River Pass when one of the summons made contact with Itachi-kun. It'll take at least another half hour at the rate they were going."

"Alright."

With that she carefully opened her potions kit. It was easy enough to gather the ingredients she needed. She took a mortar and pestle and the bezoar and handed the three to Shisui.

"Grind this up for me and be careful not to loose anything," she ordered. "I need it completely powdered."

While he bemusedly did as Hermione ordered, she began to prepare the other ingredients. Then she took a carefully measured amount of water from one of the pots and put it in her cauldron. Hermione quickly prepared the salve, following the directions exactly. Ten minutes later the salve was done and placed in a wooden container she'd made with mokutan-unfortunately it had been unavoidable. Hermione ordered Shisui to clean the cauldron after handing him a scrub brush and a bar of soap.

"What did you just make?" asked Shisui.

"A medical salve. I'll need the cauldron again within ten minutes. You should get started."

With a put upon sigh, Shisui went to do as ordered.

Hermione prepared ingredients while waiting for Shisui to finish. Then she began to look over the scroll. With a sigh she put it down to wait. There was little else she could do until her cauldron returned.

Instead she thought about what she was about to do. Except for one memorable occasion when her father had fallen off a short cliff, she'd really not had any reason to use her medical skills other than on herself. Although this past year she'd treated Harry and Ron when they'd gotten injuries-cuts and bruises mostly. Other than that, she'd left their care to Madam Pomfrey. Well, obviously she'd be putting her skills to use tonight.

When Shisui returned, Hermione began to put the potion together. It really wasn't that hard-no more then third or fourth year work. And then Hermione was grateful she'd been reading those potions books this summer. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to make it without the studying she'd been doing.

Hermione could not help but blink when a small pug ran in and announced, "They're right behind me. Where's the medic?"

"She's right here, Pakkun," said Shisui. "Is that supposed to bubble like that?"

"Crap!" Hermione turned her attention back to the potion and began to stir it once more as she added the final ingredient. "Uchiha-san, keep mixing it counter clockwise. When it turns the same yellow as the petal of a sunflower, take it off the fire and stop stirring. And make sure to tell me."

A man Hermione did not recognize with an obviously broken arm stumbled into the cave followed by a teenage boy with blood covering half his face and a limp woman in his arms. The last into the cave was Itachi, and Hermione found herself breathing a sigh of relief.

"Put her down on the bedroll," ordered Hermione. "She's the medic, right?"

The bloody teen nodded as he did as ordered. Hermione knelt and touched the only piece of clean skin she could find. She did the diagnostic and found herself letting out an almost defeated sigh. A moment later she cast several far more accurate, but much more limited diagnostics on various parts of her body.

Then she touched the teen and used the diagnostic on him. "Itachi, do you know how to wrap ribs properly?"

Itachi gave a short nod.

"Go wrap his ribs and help him clean his wounds. There's a nasty cut on his leg, but it missed any major veins or arteries. I'll put in stitches later."

Hermione then checked the man. Hermione bit her lip nervously, then said, "You have a choice."

"What do you mean?" demanded the man. "Shouldn't you be treating Rin-chan?"

"She'll be fine for two minutes. The poison's relatively slow acting. You, on the other hand have completely shattered your wrist. Now, either you chance my ability to repair your shattered wrist and find every little bone fragment, or I regrow the bones entirely."

"Regrow bones?"

"Yes. I'll have to regrow most of the bones in your arm, but it will be as good as new by morning. Unfortunately it's also incredibly painful. And you can't go anywhere for twelve hours. Think about while I treat Rin-san, was it?"

Hermione took one of the pots of water from the fire and carefully began to strip the woman as she waited for the water to cool down from a boil. Noting blood between the woman's thighs without any padding-surely the woman would have done something if she'd known she was menstruating-Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. Hermione quickly cast another sort of diagnostic altogether.

And then she let out a string of curses that would have impressed any sailor. But there was really nothing she could do now.

"Somebody find me some clean clothing for her and Uchiha-san, I want to know the moment it changes color."

With gentle care, Hermione began to wash the blood and dirt from the woman. Once done she grabbed her needle and thread and began to sew all save two of her wounds shut. Hermione applied the bezoar salve to the wounds she did not stitch shut and the normal salve to the other injuries before applying bandages.

"It's yellow," announced Shisui.

"Good," said Hermione as she bent over to check. She ladled a dose into a bowl and then walked back to Rin. "I want that clothing in the next couple minutes."

Hermione lifted Rin's head and gently put the bowl to her lips, massaging her throat to encourage her to swallow. Hermione gave a nod of acknowledgement when Itachi placed a shirt, a pair of underwear and a pair of trousers by her knees. "Could you get me the blue handkerchief with pink embroidered flowers from my pack?"

She began to dress the woman carefully, stopping only to release an object from the handkerchief Itachi had retrieved. Hermione unwrapped and applied the menstrual pad to the underwear before putting it in place. She then finished dressing the woman.

"Boil the needle for me," Hermione ordered in Shisui's general direction. Then she turned to the injured man. "Have you made your choice?"

"What do you mean by regrowing bones?"

"I banish the broken bones without harming anything else and grow healthy bones in their place. From what I understand, it's incredibly painful to regrow bones. And I can't give you anything for the pain because the technique does not work well with pain killers. I really can't say any more than that. It's one of my people's techniques."

"And if you were to just set my bones?"

"I have set bones in the past. But I've never dealt with a shattered wrist before and I can't be sure I'd do everything correctly without harming you further."

"Alright. I'll do the regrowing thing."

"Itachi, could you set up a bedroll for the man while I do this?" Hermione waved her wand, banishing the bone. She took the container of skelegrow and measured out an amount in a spoon. "Drink, give the spoon to Shisui-san to clean and go lay down on the bedroll Itachi-san is setting up."

Hermione summoned the needle from a pot of boiling water, allowing it to float in front of her as she washed her hands in another container of water. She approached the teenage boy and summoned the normal salve and the spool of thread.

"Ready for stitches?" asked Hermione.

The boy nodded hesitantly.

"This is going to hurt and honestly, I don't have anything for the pain at the moment other than some ibuprofen. Well, unless you want to be knocked unconscious."

"I'll be fine."

"If you're sure."

Hermione quickly stitched the cut across the boy's face shut, applied the salve and moved on to his leg. "Done. Let me give you a dose of something to help your ribs heal faster and then I want you to take a nap."

"But-"

"Who's the medic here? That's what I thought."

She gave him a dose of skelegrow and sent him on his way-so long as his ribs were in place, they would heal within hours. Then Hermione checked Rin with a very specific diagnostic before collapsing in front of the fire. With a sigh she washed herself and then pulled several books from her pack. She found herself looking through books for highly specified information. She ignored the two Uchiha, though she was relatively sure they'd tried to get her attention at some point. She found what she was looking for and began to put together yet another potion.

The next hour and a half were spent putting together four separate potions. Finally, she stood and stretched. Then she grabbed three potions and a spoon and went over to Rin. The woman was given a potion which had nearly been impossible to find followed by an antibiotic, and a potion meant to dull her pain to almost nothing. Following that Hermione took the needle and stitched the wounds which had been poisoned shut after cleaning off the bezoar salve. She then applied the normal salve and left the woman to sleep.

Hermione woke the man and gave him a dose of the fourth potion; a far stronger antibiotic potion. Then she did the same with the teenage boy.

With that, she slid to the ground next to Itachi. "Everybody should be relatively fine. So I know that woman is named Rin, but who are the other two?"

"Umino Iruka and our team leader Namiashi Raidou," explained Shisui. "Our medic-nin is Hatake Rin." He shook his head. "Her husband is not going to be happy with us."

"Yeah, well, I'd suggest hiding for a couple years," said Hermione. "Which reminds me, Itachi-san, next time you want me to treat somebody, just ask. Don't just drop them in my lap. It's rude. And secondly, somebody needs to retrieve a proper doctor-preferably an obstetrician."

"Obste-what?" said Shisui.

"Obstetrician. You know, the OB part of and OB/GYN. Although I suppose a gynecologist would be just as useful."

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about," said Shisui.

"An obstetrician's a doctor that specializes in midwifery. A gynecologist specializes in issues related to female genitalia and so on," Hermione explained with a sigh and a blush after realizing it was unlikely they had the same designations for medical specialties. "Look, the other two will be fine, but Hatake-san needs somebody who knows more about pregnancy than I do."

"W-what do you mean?" asked an equally blushing Itachi.

"What the hell." She was no doctor. She'd sworn no oath to keep her secrecy. "Hatake-san's pregnant-about three or four weeks along. I've done what I can, but she was bleeding pretty badly. I stopped her from miscarrying for right now, but she really does need somebody more knowledgeable than me to look her over. I don't know what else I can do. As it is, she's likely to loose her baby before tomorrow night and I just don't know what else I can do to stop that from happening."

"I can deliver the message," said the pug. "I can summon myself to Kakashi and give him a letter or a spoken message."

"Do any of you have some paper?" asked Shisui as he began to search his pockets.

Hermione pulled her backpack over and took out a small notebook not much bigger than the palm of her hand-one never knew when they might need to take notes. She ripped several sheets of lined paper out and handed them to Shisui along with the pen which had been stored in the spine of the notebook.

"Here."

Shisui gave an absent nod and quickly wrote out a message. What little she saw made no sense, leading her to believe it was some sort of code.

"How are the others?" Shisui asked softly.

"Umino-san is fine. The stitches can come out in the morning and his ribs should be completely healed within the next four hours. Namiashi-san should not be moved until about an hour after dawn. His bones should be completely regrown by then." As she spoke, Shisui wrote further sentences which made equally little sense to her. "They've both been given antibiotics. The poison Hatake-san was exposed to has been mostly removed from her body and what was left was treated. Like with Umino-san, her stitches can be removed in the morning. I've done what I can, but I have no idea what sort of long term damage the injuries or poison will have on the baby, should she even carry to term. She's been given an antibiotic, a painkiller, and something which should help her avoid miscarriage of her child. But like I said before, she needs somebody who knows more about midwifery than me to treat her."

Hermione let out a sigh. "Anything else?"

"That's all I need."

As Shisui sent the talking pug-and Hermione tried hard not to think about talking dogs-on his way, she began to reseal various objects and pile others together to be washed. Finally, she unsealed a raw chicken and began to flavor it with salt, a dash of pepper and garlic, ignoring the strange looks she received. She put the chicken in a pot of water and set it over the fire using a tripod, then washed her hands. She then took out several sticks of celery, two rather large onions and four carrots.

"What are you making?" asked Shisui.

"Chicken noodle soup. I know it's not a recipe you're familiar with, but back home it's a traditional food for those who are sick or injured. And it's very nutritious." She paused. "It'll take a couple hours to cook, but it should be enough for anybody who feels hungry during the night and to feed everybody in the morning. If one of you is willing to clean these for me," she motioned to the pile, "and the other is willing to chop up these vegetables, I'll make us a stir fry for dinner."

With a bit of a grumble under his breath about not being a housewife, Shisui took the pots while Itachi went about peeling and chopping the vegetables. Hermione curled in on herself for a moment, taking several breaths. Once she was calmer, she instructed Itachi to just toss the chopped vegetables into a separate pot with only some water within. Somewhat slowly, she began to unseal ingredients and put together the stir fry. When everything was cooking, Hermione turned to Itachi.

"Do you want to study fuinjutsu now?"

"You don't need to-"

"I don't mind. And I can't go to sleep until I eat anyway."

Itachi gave a short nod.

"We both know how to seal objects up, so let's start with that," announced Hermione. She pulled out a piece of charcoal and drew the rune array on a rock, careful not to empower it with any chakra. "To start with, I'll tell you what each rune means and then we'll talk about how these runes interact to create an array."

Shisui came back halfway through Hermione's explanation on the meanings of the runes. He watched silently as she and Itachi debated why sealing objects into scrolls-or in her case handkerchiefs-worked using this array. She'd decided to use an example they both knew so that it would be easier for Itachi to understand what she meant by runes being a language before she really got into teaching him said language.

"Alright, so as you know, runes are a language. Each rune has a specific meaning. There are roughly ten thousand runes, each with a separate meaning. And I know the meanings of maybe a hundred off the top of my head. There are a further three dozen or so, which are phonetic in nature and can be used to spell out something." She carefully wrote out an array consisting of seven runes. "This is how one would spell Hermione using the phonetic runes. And this," she wrote out four runes, "Would represent Hermione using the normal runes." She pulled out her rune dictionary. "Let me see… this is how one would spell Uchiha Itachi phonetically." After she wrote out his name, she did some arithmancy and referenced the dictionary once or twice. "And this is how you would represent Uchiha Itachi."

"What was that you just did?" asked Itachi, motioning toward the mathematic equation. His eyes flashed red, presumably to memorize what she'd written before changing back to gray.

"It's a form of mathematics called _arithmancy_," explained Hermione. "It's the mathematics of chakra, fuinjutsu, and of course, magic. And I really can't teach you it. It's one of my people's techniques."

"Of course," Itachi said in acknowledgement. "I assume _arithmancy_ is the form of mathematics you intend to apprentice in once you finish your schooling."

"Oh yes," she grinned and nodded. "I love it."

She stirred the stir fry absently and tossed in some noodles. She checked on the chicken and then sat back down again.

"Tonight, I'm going to start to teach you the phonetic runes, because they're the easiest to learn. And either in the morning, or tomorrow night, I'll start teaching you the most commonly used runes."

Hermione pulled out the small notepad and pen and turned to a clean page before handing it to Itachi. "Here, you can take notes with this."

By the time she'd gone through the first half of the runic alphabet, the stir fry was done. It was a simple matter to parcel out the food into three separate bowls. When she finished, she taught him the other phonetic runes before ripping off the pages Itachi had written on and giving them to him. She took the time to check on her various patients and gave them instructions for the soup then told them to wake her in four hours so she could check on Rin again, before curling up in a blanket Itachi gave her since Rin was using her own bedroll and going to sleep.

* * *

Itachi waited until Hermione was asleep before asked a question he'd been curious about since he'd first met the girl. "Do you remember if Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-hime had any children beyond the Yondaime-sama?"

Shisui gave him a searching look before admitting, "Yeah. But they died during the first couple months of the Third War." He looked down at Hermione for a moment before his eyes widened. "There was a son. He'd be about my age. But Yamato was assassinated by Iwa nins. It's why the Yondaime killed so many of them. And there was a daughter-Tobi, I think her name was-about two years younger than Yamato. There would have been another child, about a year older than you, but shortly after Yamato was killed, the first invasion of the village occurred. Tobi died and the baby was born about a month early, it was stillborn. It's why nobody tried to get Tsunade-hime to return to the village when she left." He looked down at Hermione. "Did she use mokutan in front of you as well?"

Itachi gave a short nod. "Several days ago, when she visited the graves of the Senju and Yondaime-sama, she grew flowers atop them." He kept his voice low, pitching it so only Shisui could hear. "Hermione-san and I spoke about our siblings. She had an elder sister named Tobi who died-I think when Hermione was nine. From what little I gathered, it was a violent incident. Her grandmother sent her to give a message to her mother's brother, Jiraiya and specified she could hire a shinobi only from Konoha to protect her. Jiraiya-sama's sister and her husband raised the girls as their own. Hermione-san mentioned that Jiraiya-sama had a twin sister who died while slightly younger than I am. She was named for her aunt."

"No wonder Sarutobi-sama sent you on this mission," said Shisui understanding his meaning immediately.

Hermione was likely the "stillborn" child Tsunade had given birth to. This mission should be A-Rank, at the very least, but that would have drawn too much attention to the girl, as both Uchihas knew. The best protection Hermione had right now was her anonymity. She was the daughter of two of the Sannin, possessed two kekkei genkai-though only Itachi knew of her magic, was very intelligent, and was training in medicine and the use of chakra without hand seals-a rare skill. Even worse, she was at the very beginning of her childbearing years and had no real ability to defend herself. She would be easy to kidnap and use to give birth to a new generation of shinobi for an enemy village.

"Why would the woman risk sending Hermione-san to find Jiraiya-sama?" Shisui was obviously disgusted by the danger the girl had unknowingly been put in.

"It's a test. Something Hermione-san called an Impossible Task. From the description it sounded much like it served the same purpose as the Chunin Exam." Itachi paused, deciding how much to tell. "The Impossible Task is apparently traditional among her people. It's supposed to be both dangerous and seemingly impossible as the name implies. One goes through the Impossible Task to prove themselves worthy, although Hermione-san did not explain what she was trying to prove herself worthy of."

Shisui gave a short nod in acknowledgement of his words. It was still reprehensible to send a civilian girl into such a dangerous situation without at least warning the girl, but if the Impossible Task served the purpose that Itachi assumed it did, it was no wonder it was so dangerous.

Raidou stirred and the duo fell silent. Itachi motioned for Shisui to go to sleep while he continued to stand guard. For one long moment it looked like Shisui might refuse before glancing at Hermione and acquiescing.

With that Itachi double checked the perimeter before removing the chicken from the pot. He carefully took the meat off the bones and tossed them into the pot with the simmering vegetables to turn the water into what Hermione had called "chicken stock." He added the water from the chicken pot into the vegetable pot and absently shredded the meat from the chicken. He sealed the meat away as instructed. Hermione intended to fish the bones out and add the meat and noodles when she woke.

* * *

Without bothering to get dressed, Hermione checked on her patients when she was shaken awake the second time, sometime around dawn. Once satisfied nobody needed immediate care, she washed her hands and removed the stitches from Iruka and Raidou. Then she gave Rin a more in depth exam. She gave the woman another dose of the potion which seemed to be doing its job in helping the fetus stay where it was. The sedative wouldn't wear off from another hour, so Hermione took the opportunity to remove the stitches while she was unaware of what was happening.

When everybody was taken care of, Hermione went back to the river and washed up before taking her hair out of it's now painful updo and brushing it out. Her hair poofed out as expected. With a mental growl she bound her hair into a long braid. She'd have pinned it up into buns as she had the past several days, but her scalp was still sore. Hermione grabbed a ribbon and then folded the braid four times, until it was hopefully short enough and then tied the ribbon around it tightly to keep it together. Then she pulled out a scarf. It was a little complicated, but she tied it so that it was wrapped around her hair and braid and secured it with some bobby pins she didn't even try to hide.

With a mental shrug, she dressed in one of the yukata from the trunk instead of a kimono because she didn't want to get a kimono bloody. The yukata was purple with a floral print that Hermione rather disliked. She wouldn't consider it the end of the world if the yukata ended up dirty or bloody, though she wouldn't purposefully allow that to happen.

Hermione unsealed the bowls and grabbed the ladle before plopping down between Shisui and the now sleeping Itachi before the fire. The boy had woken Shisui and gone to sleep after waking Hermione several minutes prior.

"Umino-san, Namiashi-san, are you two hungry?" Hermione asked of the boy and man who were seated on the opposite side of the fire. At their nods she stirred the soup before filling four bowls. They accepted the bowls and pulled out chopsticks, though they didn't start to eat until they saw Hermione do so. "If you want more feel free to get seconds. And… if you don't like it, I could put something else together if you want."

"It's fine, Hermione-san," said Shisui, brushing off the hesitant look on Iruka's face and Hermione had a feeling, informing the others that they'd eat what she made, and they'd like it.

Hermione was halfway through her bowl before she thought to ask, "Uchiha-san, do you know when help will arrive?"

"They should get here by midday," said Shisui. At the looks on their companions' faces, he explained, "We sent Pakkun back to Konoha with a message."

"What? We should be able to transport her back ourselves by tomorrow," pointed out Iruka, obviously picking up that Rin was the problem.

"No, you can't," said Hermione. "That's over a hundred miles from here. She can't be moved so far."

"What's wrong with her?" demanded Raidou.

"She's pregnant," said Shisui. "Hermione-san says she needs to be treated by a trained midwife. Hermione-san was trained by an army field medic, not somebody versed in medical jutsu."

"I've been studying my family's medical techniques that involve chakra, but I'm not all that experienced yet and I've never treated a pregnant woman before."

"How is she?" asked Raidou, clearly upset by that knowledge.

"The poison is out of her system. Her lungs were slightly injured by it and she may be more susceptible to certain diseases such as pneumonia or bronchitis in the future, but is otherwise as well as can be expected physically. Her cuts were stitches shut and healed overnight. I treated them as I did yours." Hermione cleared her throat. "I'm not sure if she'll keep the baby or if it was affected by the poison. She might miscarry. She had begun to miscarry last night and I gave her something which helped her keep the baby, but like I said, she might still lose it. She should be waking up within the next half hour to hour and I'm sure she'd appreciate it if one of her teammates was with her."

Raidou nodded and left the fire, taking his soup with him.

Iruka put the bowl to his mouth and drained the broth left behind. It was rather rude to do so in England, but in Japan was considered perfectly normal. He reached over to the pot and served himself more of the soup, mixing until he got mostly vegetables and only the slightest bit of chicken. Then he dipped the ladle back in to fill the bowl up to the top with broth.

"This is good," said Iruka. "I don't think I've had anything like this before. What did you say it was again?"

"_Chicken noodle soup_. It just means chicken noodle soup," Hermione explained. "It's generally eaten by the ill or during winter when it's cold, but it's good for the injured as well. Trust me, when the snow is waist deep or you've been sick a week, there's nothing like a bowl of chicken noodle soup."

He snorted and nodded in acknowledgement. Hermione went back for seconds as well, filling her bowl with noodles, vegetables, and chicken, with only the slightest bit of broth. She was hungry, very hungry. Probably because of how much energy she'd used the day before.

When she heard a soft gasp followed by Raidou explaining they were safe, Hermione put her half finished bowl down and stood. She made her way over to Rin's prone form, careful not to move too fast. Who knew what sort of hang-ups or PTSD these shinobi had.

"Good morning, Hatake-san," said Hermione, kneeling down next to Rin across from Raidou. "I'm Hermione. I'm the one who's been treating you and your team."

"Hello," said Rin, after looking at Raidou who gave a nod and made a couple hand symbols.

"Now then, I'd like to speak check up on you again now that you're awake and then explain your injuries and how I treated them," she said, using her most professional voice. "Do you want any of your teammates with you while I examine you, or do you want me to ask them to leave this part of the cave?"

"It's fine. They can stay."

"Alright." Hermione carefully ran her fingers over her stomach, pressing occasionally. "Tell me if it hurts." She unsealed a stethoscope she'd transfigured out of a couple broken pieces of rubber and some old nails a couple months earlier while at school-she never knew when she might need it, particularly given her boys penchant for getting into trouble. (1)

"What is that?" asked Rin.

"Stethoscope." She put in her ears and picked up the other end. "It can be used to listen to a patient's heartbeat or lungs mostly, though it can be used to listen to intestines and blood flow in veins and arteries as well. It's very useful for listening to lungs and diagnosing illnesses. I'll tell you what, I'll make you one before Uchiha-uh, Itachi-san and I leave in a couple hours. I'll show you how doctors where I come from use it too." Rin thanked her and Hermione checked her lungs. Once satisfied, Hermione cleared her throat. Finally she carefully sent a burst of magic to check on the fetus. Hermione found herself breathing a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" asked Rin.

"Do you feel any cramping at all?" Hermione asked instead.

"No, I'm not."

"Alright. Hatake-san, are you aware that you're pregnant?" she asked. Rin paled dramatically as her eyes widened before shaking her head no. "You nearly miscarried last night. I've done what I can, but I'm trained as a field medic, not a midwife. The baby seems fine at the moment and Shisui-san sent a message to the village asking for a midwife." She quickly explained the other injuries and how she'd treated them, careful not to reveal anything too incriminating about the potions. Then she dosed Rin with appropriate medications. Finally she brought the woman a bowl of soup.

For lack of anything else to do, Hermione settled on a rock and went back to reading, alternating between the scroll on healing and the scroll on wandless magic every half hour. Shisui went to wake Itachi around three hours after he went to sleep, but Hermione had waved him off, saying it would be better for Itachi to sleep an extra hour or so since he'd been up all night standing guard. Around midmorning, Hermione unsealed some peaches and handed them out to Iruka, who was the only person other than herself interested in a snack.

"You should probably wake Itachi-san now," said Hermione. The boy had managed to get five hours of sleep and it was only an hour until noon. If he slept any more than this, he would probably have trouble going to sleep that evening.

Hermione waited until Itachi was awake and had taken care of his ablutions, before handing him an extra peach. "Here. This should hold you over until lunch is ready."

"Thank you." He motioned toward Rin, who was speaking quietly to Iruka on the other side of the cave. "How is she?"

"Good. The longer she goes without miscarrying, the better. I want to wait until the medical professional Shisui requested arrives so I can tell him or her about their injuries and treatments before we set out again. And I promised to _transfigure_ a stethoscope for Hatake-san."

"A what?"

"Medical instrument." She paused. "I need to show her how to use it before I leave. Do you mind if we use you as a test subject or would you prefer we use one of her teammates?"

"What does it do?"

"It's a device used to listen to the internal sounds of the body. Don't worry, it's noninvasive."

"What do you need to make it?"

"Anything, really, though it would be easier if I made it from some rubber and metal. I think I'm going to make her two so that she has one she can take apart back in Konoha."

"Let me see what I can find."

"I'll need to make them elsewhere. It's… I can't let them see me do this. It's bad enough you know about my _magic_."

"Don't worry."

Still eating his peach, Itachi headed over to his fellow shinobi. With a shrug, Hermione began to pack up. Once everything, including the extra soup-it would make a good lunch the next day-was packed up, Hermione pulled out the extra pieces of shredded chicken, some raw vegetables, soy sauce, tofu, and udon noodles before making a stir fry which would hopefully be enough for everybody.

"Iruka-san, watch the food, please. Hermione-san and I need to talk about my mission," said Itachi.

"Sure."

"Just keep stirring," instructed Hermione as she stood.

She permitted Itachi to lead her from the portion of the cave they were in and into a chamber two or three dozen meters away. At least she had privacy here.

"Here." Itachi handed her a broken blade, half of what Hermione thought was a shuriken, and a cracked knife with a ring at one end instead of a handle. "Is this enough metal? I'm sorry, but I was unable to locate any rubber."

"Yes, thank you. It's more than enough." Hermione pulled out her wand and transfigured the metal into two chest pieces and two of the u-shaped pieces which carried the sound from the hollow rubber to the ear. She picked up a rock and transfigured it into the hollow tubes the stethoscope used and four little rubber ear buds to make the stethoscopes more comfortable to wear. Once that was done it was easy enough to put them together. "There, done."

"There's something else," Itachi interrupted.

"What?"

"You should sit down."

Nervously, she sat down on a boulder. "Go on."

"I've spoken to my cousin. I trust him to keep what we spoke of between us. According to Shisui-kun, in addition to Namikaze Minato, Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-hime had three other children. Yamato would have been fifteen or sixteen now, except he was assassinated by Iwa nin when he was a child. There was a daughter, Tobi, who would have been thirteen or fourteen, and a third child. When eight months pregnant with the third child, Tsunade-hime and Tobi were attacked. In the village, it is believed that the baby was stillborn and Tobi died."

Hermione closed her eyes as all the pieces fell into place. A faraway voice began to explain, "Among my people, a child without the ability to use _magic_ who is born to parents who can use _magic_ are called _squibs_? Most _squibs_ are killed once they reach eleven and no school of _magic_ sends them an acceptance letter. It's a widely held belief among the upper echelons that it is better to be dead than to be a _squib_." Oh, she was the one speaking. "If a _squib_ isn't killed, it's sterilized so that it can't pass its 'defective' genes to the next generation. Most of the ones that aren't sterilized or killed run away so that such things don't happen to them. My mother and her sister Andy-bachan were both sterilized. Matsuo-jisan doesn't mind-he's a police officer and he received injuries which rendered him sterile early on in his career and my father had the mumps when he was a child. He couldn't father children after that. I thought… I had thought that my parents had used their contacts with my people so that they could adopt orphans with _magic_. There were a lot of orphans after the last civil war. I was two when it ended."

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "And then baasan told me I could use my own blood for the pendant when I showed it to her. I'd intended to ask her to use her own blood to power it, you know. I didn't… I couldn't think about what her answer meant. I kept telling myself that it was coincidence, even when the damn thing said I was related to those Senju in that cemetery and that Tsunade woman and you told me about mokutan. Except I was lying to myself and I knew it. I just… I don't know what to say."

Hermione blinked, her mind focusing on something. "Do you think Tenzo could really be Yamato? He looked like he was the right age and he's one of Konoha's shinobi. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think he was hidden as well."

"It's possible," Itachi agreed.

And then she was crying. Hermione had no idea why she was crying, not really. It wasn't something worthy of crying about. Before she had a chance to think about what she was doing, she'd thrown herself at Itachi, wrapping her arms around his neck as she cried on his shoulder. He awkwardly patted her on the back, causing Hermione to giggle helplessly until her laughter turned back into tears.

"I'm sorry," mumbled Hermione as she pulled away. She brushed away the tears and blew her nose in a handkerchief. "I'm ok. Really, I am."

Itachi gave a short nod. "We should return to the others."

"Give me a minute. I want to rinse me face first."

* * *

(1) I don't remember if there were stethoscopes pictured in the manga, but I'm going with the theory that they simple haven't been invented yet.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: So, the moment we've all been waiting for… well, sort of. I feel a bit conflicted about this chapter, particularly the second half of it. But I decided not to edit that part out. There are notes and an explanation at the bottom of the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

"Why does a… member of your people attempt to complete an Impossible Task?" asked Itachi, as Hermione rinsed her face off in the river.

"To prove themselves worth the time, effort, and expense of being taught," explained Hermione. "Most of the time. It's generally a task given to a prospective apprentice by a master although I've heard of it being used by a family to test if a man or a woman is worthy of marrying in to the family. Baasan said that if I wanted to learn… a certain branch of her family's techniques, I had to find my uncle and convince him to see her one last time."

Itachi nodded his understanding. "Is it only the upper classes that kill or sterilize their _squibs_?"

"Its… I think I gave you the wrong impression. I didn't think my words through. What I spoke of is only really common in the _United Kingdom_. My people's civil war was terrible. When it began there were ten thousand of us, now there are only six thousand. We're a closed society. Most have almost nothing to do with outsiders." Hermione paused, contemplating how to explain. "Among the _Purebloods_, which is the highest class, inbreeding is incredibly common and many of them suffer from difficulty conceiving or carrying a child to term, and just about every _Pureblood_ clan has one or two _squibs_ born into it within the past century. I know the Weasley Clan had a _squib_ that went on to become a very successful accountant and got married and has several children I attend school with. Although I don't think Ron has realized why they don't talk to that branch of his family. But they're far more liberal than most of the _Pureblood_ families. They're the exception, not the rule. In most countries, _squibs_ are merely disowned by their clan and sent out into the world, although the sterilization and killing is still practiced by some of the clans. It's just… my country has a more politically extreme _Pureblood _population than most and _squibs _only really occur among the _Purebloods_."

Hermione worried at her lip for a moment. "Itachi-san-do you mind if I call you Itachi-san?-right, well, I'm not sure what the technique I've been using will do with a mountain pass. Should I just put on my boots instead of my geta? I've been trying to avoid wearing clothing that might mark me as anything other than a civilian, but I don't think I can go climbing in geta."

"Kaminari no kuni is in a very mountainous region," explained Itachi. "However few civilians choose to wear boots. If you have trouble, wear boots, otherwise, remain in geta."

Hermione nodded her understanding. She walked back into the main cavern of the cave, carrying the two stethoscopes she'd just made.

"Hatake-san, do you feel up to a demonstration now?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, of course," said the woman, clearly excited by the idea of learning a new medical technique.

"Here. I thought you'd like one to keep and one to take apart." Hermione handed Rin the stethoscopes and pulled out her own. "Itachi-san has agreed to be our test subject. Uh, Itachi-san, you'll need to remove your shirt." She motioned absently at his netting like armor. "And your armor as well."

Hermione spent about ten minutes going over how to use the stethoscope. Apparently medics were trained in jutsu which gave them some of the same information as a stethoscope did, but Rin considered not having to use a jutsu to find out the information useful. It seemed it was a difficult jutsu to master.

Once her tutorial was through, she relieved Iruka of cooking duty and set about handing out food. After she'd finished lunch and cleaned and sealed everything up, she'd pulled out a deck of cards.

"Do you want to play?" asked Hermione. She was bored enough that playing with shinobi that would probably cheat sounded good. There was only so much studying even she could do before her brain turned to goo and dribbled out her ears.

"Poker?" asked Itachi, sitting down across from her.

Hermione nodded as Raidou waved absently at Shisui and Iruka who joined the duo. She handed the deck of cards, secured with a rubber band to Itachi. He shuffled and dealt the cards with practiced ease.

"Are we playing for anything?" asked Iruka.

"No, please no," said Hermione, not quite able to hide a shudder. "I'm not ending up naked again." At the stunned looks everybody in the cave sent her, Hermione blushed bright red. "That didn't come out right."

"What happened?" asked Shisui, an expectant look on his face.

"It was the girl's dorm Annual _Gryffindor_ Strip _Pinochle_ Tournament," she admitted. "_Pinochle_'s a card game. Anyway, all the girls are expected to compete. I ended up in the semi-finals, but I lost everything I was wearing so I was disqualified before the finals. But I was the only girl from the First Years Dormitory to get so far."

"Dormitory?" asked Iruka.

"I just finished my first year of a seven year apprenticeship." She discarded two cards and received two in return. "Anyway, the children are separated into one of four dormitories, called houses when they arrive. I'm in _Gryffindor_. There are roughly forty two girls in _Gryffindor_ throughout the seven years. There are five in my year, including myself, and overall, nineteen girls spread throughout the four houses."

"Alright, I have to ask," said Rin, several feet to Itachi's left. "How the hell did something like an Annual Strip _Pinochle_ Tournament get started?"

"According to the story I heard, during her last three years as a _Gryffindor_, Lily Potter started the tournament with the upper three years as a way to relieve the stress of exams. When she and her husband were murdered eleven years ago, her fellow _Gryffindors _decided to continue the tournament as a tribute to her memory."

And then she remembered that this was not modern Japan, no matter how open minded these boys and men acted. "It takes place at the girl's _prefect_ baths and there's a strict no boys or men allowed policy. And any contestant who finds a male who dared to defile our party may punish them however they see fit. And the losers get to relax in the baths and watch the rest of the tournament-it's a real treat. Us lower years never get to use the _prefect_ bath."

There were nods at this. It was one thing to talk about strip pinochle when there was the possibility of men showing up and dishonoring the contestants, but it not only forbade the presence of males, it took place at a women's only bath. They might think it a little strange, but it was no longer scandalous.

She gave a shy smile. "By the time I was out of the contest and finished relaxing, the other girls in my year had gone to bed, so I had to walk back to our dormitory alone. And I found Marcus Flint attempting to spy-though he claimed he was only patrolling the halls as was his duty and tried to get me in trouble! Really, the audacity." She grinned at the memory. "Anyway, a fifth year girl from the _Ravenclaw_ House and a seventh year girl from _Hufflepuff_ House who were also on patrol caught Marcus scolding me and figured out what was really going on. So Penny-that's the _Ravenclaw_'s name-and Tonks-she's the _Hufflepuff_-tied Marcus up and we had fun painting Marcus's face and nails. And we may have… well… dressed Marcus up as a woman and put a wig on his head and written some nasty things on his forehead and dumped him in front of the _Slytherin_ House so that the _Slytherin _girls wouldn't miss out on the fun. Daphne had a lot of fun and we bonded over the ideas we had about punishing perverts."

Rin giggled as the boys exchanged slightly uneasy looks. "You were nicer to that boy than even the civilian women back home are to peepers."

"Well, in all fairness, Tonks suggested we emasculate him, but Penny said we'd have to pay a fine to the Flint Clan so we decided to emasculate him metaphorically rather than physically. And Daphne Greengrass-she's a _Slytherin_ in my year-got the idea to make him drink half a bottle of wine and pour the rest on him so that he got in trouble with the sensei when they found him the next morning. And, even though _Slytherins_ and _Gryffindors_ are traditionally competitors and occasionally enemies, Daphne and I became rather friendly. We study together now."

"So what sort of apprenticeship is it?" asked Shisui.

Hermione gave Shisui a quelling look as Itachi explained, "It's her clan's business, not ours. Unless of course you're related to Hermione-san through marriage or blood."

At that scolding, they went back to playing.

Shisui had taken the lead and decided to tell a humorous tale about his elder brother. During their second round, Itachi unexpectedly decided to call. Hermione was confused, but showed everybody her cards when the other boys did so. Iruka was declared the winner and Hermione had just managed to gather her cards and secure the rubber band when Raidou disappeared out the entrance of the cave.

With a mental sigh Hermione packed her cards away and gathered her bag, securing the heavy metal tessen to her obi. After a moment's thought she untied the headscarf and took out the pins, putting both away. Then she untied the ribbon around her braid, allowing it to unfold itself and fall down her back to halfway to her knees. She was just tying the ribbon around her head like a headband to keep loose hairs from falling into her eyes when several shinobi followed Raidou into the cave.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw that Itachi was careful to stand between her and these new shinobi, even though they wore variants of the Konoha uniform and the metal plate with a stylized leaf. There was a frantic looking white haired man with half his face covered by a mask and his left eye covered, a black haired woman Hermione recognized as Yuuhi… Kurenai? from Hokage Tower, a woman in her early thirties with a large dog and red marks on her cheek, and finally a man Hermione recognized as Tenzou's team leader. Well, this was going to be uncomfortable.

In an instant the white haired man was by Rin's side. Her husband?

"Who's the medic?" asked the woman with the red marks.

"I am," volunteered Hermione. "Please tell me you have experience as a midwife."

"Don't worry kid, I know what I'm doing."

The team leader's eyes had narrowed at the sight of her and he seemed to be having some sort of hand sign and body language conversation with Raidou. It was to be suspected, she supposed.

Hermione turned her attention back to the woman and fished out a bundle wrapped in a piece of cloth. "Here ma'am. It's a sample of the poison I got from her wound. I did what I could to treat the poison and I'm relatively sure it's out of her system, but I thought it best to get a sample just in case I missed something."

"Thank you…"

"Hermione, just Hermione."

As the woman nodded and introduced herself as Inuzuka Tsume, the white haired man's head snapped up. He stared at Hermione for several long moments before he looked over at Itachi and had some sort of silent conversation with her bodyguard.

She waited patiently as Tsume examined Rin. Tsume did something that enveloped her hands in green light as she gently pressed on Rin's stomach. Then she opened the bundle, which contained a bit of blood soaked gauze in a glass container. Tsume opened the container and sniffed lightly before paling and looking slightly queasy.

"Right. Rin-chan, bed rest for another day just to be safe. The poison didn't damage the baby," announced Tsume. "Now, Hermione-san, let's talk about what treatment you gave everybody."

"Yes ma'am."

"Kurenai-chan, Genma-kun, why don't you take the rest of the team to another chamber and get their reports on the attack," Tsume ordered. Once they'd filed out, she turned to Itachi, who hadn't moved. "You too."

"Hermione-san hired me to protect her, Inuzuka-sama," said Itachi, his voice disturbingly emotionless.

"Right. How did you treat the poison?"

"A combination of a salve meant to neutralize the poison and draw it from the wounds and a… medicine meant to be ingested which essentially did the same," Hermione explained carefully. "It's a clan secret. I really can't tell you what it was made of or anything more specific than what I just said."

"What's wrong?" demanded Rin.

"The poison… it was-" Tsume said something incomprehensible. "You shouldn't have survived."

"Oh," Rin said faintly.

Hermione cleared her throat. "I need to get going before the sun sets."

"Of course," said the man.

It took Hermione only a couple minutes to explain everything. Although Tsume had stared at Hermione like she'd grown another head when she explained that she'd regrown the bones in Raidou's arm. Nonetheless Tsume had shooed her off soon enough.

Hermione followed Itachi out into the pass and they walked for half a mile before Itachi said it was clear. She did the spell and they continued on. Hermione continued her tessenjutsu practice as they walked. The path wasn't that bad, but there was a bit of climbing here and there.

It was nearly half an hour later when Hermione asked, "What was that about? That white haired man looked like he'd seen a ghost when he heard my name."

Itachi shifted uncomfortably before explaining, "That man is Hatake Kakashi. He was Namikaze Minato-sama's student. He confirmed my suspicions. And he said that Pakkun recognized your scent."

"The talking dog?"

"The ninken, yes. He shares a dog summoning contract with his wife." Itachi cleared his throat. "According to him, you and your sister were hidden. He couldn't tell me more than that without giving away too much."

"So… why do you shinobi live in villages?"

Itachi blinked. "What?"

"It's just… we don't have shinobi back home. At all."

He gave her an odd look, but told her about the ninja clans and their wars. He told her of the Senju and the Uchiha and how their alliance had formed Konohagakure no Sato, and how the formation of the village had led to the First Great Shinobi War. They ended up spending the rest of the day talking about the three Shinobi Wars and the War the of Roses over four centuries prior, the French Revolution in the 18th century, and the Russian Revolution a century later. Hermione had had to give a lot of background information to even explain the comparisons she was trying to make, but she didn't mind; Itachi's explanations were just as meandering and detailed.

* * *

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

Across from her sat Itachi, the duo looking at Hermione's map. Between when she'd last checked and this morning, the dot they presumed was Jiraiya had moved several dozen miles to the east, to a dot which marked a town or city. Judging by Itachi's pensive look, whatever his answer was, it wasn't going to be good.

"It's the capitol. At the rate we're traveling, we should arrive within the hour." Itachi glanced down at her body. "It would be wise to keep only the tessen with the blades hidden in the spines on you. And you should change into a more formal kimono. And do you have zori? You must appear as civilian and helpless as possible."

"Um, alright," Hermione said unsurely.

She unsealed the trunk of kimono and opened it so that Itachi could see within. "Is this good?" She pulled out a golden yellow kimono covered with a beautiful, detailed pattern of flowers and butterflies. It wasn't the best kimono in the trunk, but it was better than the ones she'd been wearing. "Or is it too nice?"

Itachi gave a short nod and searched through the folded obi before pulling out a purple-pink obi whose simplicity would contrast nicely with the kimono.

"It's… Let me show you." Hermione unsealed the small trunk and opened it, so that he could see the deceptively dangerous hair ornaments. "I could put my hair up into a more traditional style and wear one or two of the kanzashi."

Itachi stared, wide eyed. "Where did you get these?"

"They belonged to baasan. She gave them to me. I think… I think she got them from her own mother. Since this began, I've been going over the stories my mother told me as a child." Hermione cleared her throat. "She used to tell stories about a kunoichi. About how one by one her parents, her siblings, her cousins died until only she was left. And the kunoichi grew tired of war, of killing, so she went looking for a new world, a peaceful world. What my mother called magical animals took pity on her and showed her the path to the other side of the mists-that, I keep thinking, that's the same exact term that baasan used when… I think my great grandmother was a kunoichi and that these belonged to her. I think she taught obaasan tessenjutsu and obaasan taught my mother who taught me. I think that she was the one who gave my uncle the idea to come to the elemental countries when he ran away. And I think my uncle uses the name Namikaze as a way to honor her or to ensure that the Namikaze Clan continued as a shinobi clan."

He gave a short, barely noticeable nod and reached in to pick out a kogai, or metal comb with long dangerous teeth on one side and a delicate flower and bee pattern on the other, and one of the kushi, or a hair stick, which had a bee on one end and a needle like tip on the other. The kanzashi matched perfectly and Hermione realized they were probably a set. At least Itachi hadn't overdone it with the kanzashi. Too many and she'd look cheap. Understated elegance was the same in any culture. Although she was a bit surprised by the bee theme. Flowers were far more normal.

"Right," said Hermione. "Give me a couple minutes to change and put my hair up."

Hermione had too much hair to put up in a simple bun. She had to put her hair up in portions. First was the back of her hair, which she brushed into a high tail and secured with a band. Then she folded the pony tail in half and twisted, then wrapped around the base of the tail in a simple bun and secured with long pins. She parted the front half of her hair on the left and brushed the left half of her hair flat before twisting and pinning around her bun. The right half was brushed out and teased slightly by brushing in the opposite direction of the way it was suppose to go and then loosely twisted the hair and pinned it around the bun. It took her a moment to decide to push the kogai into her bun on the left side and the kushi, or hair stick into the bun on the top of the right, where it would accent the teased hair.

Once her hair was done she changed into the kimono Itachi had approved. Hesitantly, Hermione found herself changing from her geta into flip flop like zori. Once dressed and armed with her wand and tessen, Hermione returned to where Itachi was waiting.

"Does this look right?" asked Hermione.

Itachi nodded. "You look like the daughter of a samurai. In the city refer to me as Uchiha-san and allow me to speak for you. Is your tracking pendant active?"

"One second," she said, fishing it out from under her clothing. She channeling magic into it and then slipped it back under the neck of her kimono. "It is now. It has enough _magic _in it to remain active for two days."

They set out on the path silently. Itachi seemed to be concentrating on something and Hermione didn't want to bother him too much. And then, about fifteen minutes before they were to reach the city, Itachi held up his hand, motioning her to stop and remain still. Hermione did as told, ready to release her wand into her hand should the need arise. They were on a section of path that was in the middle of curving, which made it difficult to see if somebody was approaching from behind or in front of them.

Hermione almost flinched when she heard the sound of somebody walking along the trail. Whoever it was, they had to be Wizarding. And suddenly she was glad she'd shown Itachi some magic. At least he'd have some idea of what he might be up against.

There was a pull coming from her pendant. It had been growing stronger over the course of the morning and Hermione was almost willing to dismiss it as nothing. Almost.

"Well met," announced an elderly voice as two figures came around the curve.

There was a small blonde child dressed in a yukata holding the hand of what Hermione presumed was her great grandmother or great great grandmother. The woman was emaciated and hunched over with age, though clean and well dressed. Likewise her snow white hair was done up in a simple, neat bun.

"Well met, stranger," greeted Hermione.

"I was unaware others still walked the old roads," said the woman, coming to a stop several feet from Hermione and Itachi.

"As was I," smiled Hermione.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman. She was ill, judging by the unhealthy yellow tinge to her skin. Some sort of liver problem?

"Are you in need of medical care?" asked Hermione, taking a half step forward only to be stopped by Itachi's hand on her arm.

"Thank you for your kind offer, Namikaze-san, but I am beyond the help of medicine now."

"H-how?"

The woman shook her head in amusement. "Didn't you notice the mon on your tessen?"

"I-oh. I wasn't paying attention when I dressed this morning," she blushed. A mon was a coat of arms and now that it had been pointed out to her, it was obvious that the fan had a mon inscribed in its handle. "You seem to have me at a disadvantage, ma'am. You know my name, and yet I don't know yours."

"Suikazan Amami," said the woman. "And this is my great great great granddaughter Shiho." She turned to Itachi. "If you would excuse us, Uchiha-san, Namikaze-san and I have business to speak of."

"No offense meant, Suikazan-san, but Uchiha-san would not be doing his job if he were to leave me alone with you," she pointed out. "Even if you are both my kin."

Amami gave her a deadly smile that made it clear she was displeased, yet somehow amused. "Of course, Namikaze-san." She motioned at a rock next to the road. "I believe this will be a long conversation. It might be best for us to sit."

"A wonderful suggestion, Suikazan-san."

Hermione and Amami sat themselves down on the rock ledge, Amami lifting Shiho so that she sat next to Amami. Shiho cuddled up to Amami's side and the woman held her close, carefully brushing hair from the girl's face.

"I find myself in need of your aid," admitted Amami.

"I'm in the midst of my Impossible Task; I don't know what aid I can lend you."

"For the privilege of learning the Old Ways?" Amami gave a wistful smile at Hermione's sharp nod. "I believe this would be easier to understand if I were to start from the beginning." At Hermione's motion to continue, she said, "A little over a hundred years ago, my father married me off to the heir of the Suikazan Clan to cement the alliance between the Suikazan and the Namikaze. The Suikazan refused to honor the alliance, which led to all but my brother's youngest daughter, Sorami being killed off. Sorami-chan understandably refused my offer of aid and disappeared, and my husband's clan joined what would eventually be known as Kirigakure no Sato.

"I have respected Sorami-chan's wishes and had nothing to do with her or her descendants since. Yet I find myself in a position where I must beg for the help of the Namikaze-not for myself, but for Shiho-chan.

"When Yagura-Kiri's Kage-ordered the destruction of all clans with kekkei genkai, the Suikazan were included in the list. I, and my great great granddaughter, Kira-chan managed to escape the village. The rest of the clan was not so lucky. Seven months later Kira-chan died giving birth to Shiho-chan. I've managed to keep myself and Shiho-chan one step ahead of the hunter-nin for the past five years, but I cannot keep up this pace much longer. I'd hide her among the civilian population and draw off the hunter-nin, allow them to kill me, but Shiho-chan would have no knowledge of how to control her _magic_ when she comes of age. It would be too dangerous. I had planned on taking Shiho-chan to Konohagakure and leaving her there with a letter for Jiraiya-sama, but he is so rarely in the village and I fear he will have no desire to help her control her abilities."

Hermione was silent for several long moments, thinking on what Amami had said. Neither the woman nor the child would have shown up on map-more than three generations separated them-but the pendant would and did pick up on their presence. Sorami, Hermione well knew, had been the name of her great grandmother.

"Intended. You said you intended to leave Shiho-chan in Konoha. What made you change your mind?" demanded Itachi.

"I felt you walking the paths, Namikaze-san. You are a woman of the clan."

"Whoa-slow down. Where I come from, you're not considered an adult until you reach the age of seventeen." She had a sudden, sinking feeling that she knew where this was going. And no matter how much she objected, she knew she was going to agree in the end.

"And you could not even consider taking on an Impossible Task unless you had already become a woman."

"So what if I've already started…" She searched for a word that was not too embarrassing, "my monthlies. I'm only twelve years old. I'm too young for this."

"And yet, by Namikaze Clan law, you are already a woman and by agreeing to the Impossible Task, you announced your adulthood and your readiness for the responsibilities that come with it."

"Swear to me," demanded Hermione. Amami was unfortunately correct. How could she even think of trying to do as her grandmother requested and refuse her many times great aunt what was likely the woman's last request. "Swear to me on you life, your blood, and your _magic_ that the story you just told was the truth, that you have no ill intentions toward me or mine, that you will not betray us upon pain of death and the eternal torment of being a ghost, never again to see kith and kin the afterlife."

Amami cut open her palm without a second thought and Hermione found herself holding out her hand to Itachi. "Do you have a clean kunai I can use?"

Once Hermione's palm had been cut, she and Amami pressed their bloody palms together. "I, Suikazan Amami, born Namikaze Amami do so swear to Namikaze-"

"Hermione," she supplied.

"-Namikaze Hermione that everything I have told her is the truth, with no intentional untruths or misleading words, that I have no ill intentions toward Namikaze Hermione or hers, and that I will not intentionally or unintentionally betray her or hers by my life, my blood, and my _magic_, upon the pain of death and the eternal torment of becoming a ghost, never again to see my kith or kin in this life or the next."

"And I, Namikaze Hermione, also known as Hermione Granger do so swear to Suikazan Amami, born Namikaze Amami that I will take her descendent Shiho now to be known as Namikaze Shiho as my own and ensure her care and her education in our ways as I would a child born from my body on my life, my blood and my _magic_."

There was a gathering of magic which suddenly released, enveloping herself and Amami. Then it faded and they released their hands. Their palms were healed, though there was a white scar on each.

"Thank you, niece," said Amami.

"You're both family. You know as well as I do that I could do no less." She glanced at Itachi, who was silent, a brooding look upon his face. "Why don't we finish going over the details and then I'll give you and Shiho some privacy to say goodbye."

Amami pulled out two scrolls and pressed them into Hermione's arms. "The scroll with the blue ribbon contains what little objects I've managed to save and Shiho-chan's dowry. In the other scroll is the clan jutsu and the jutsu I created myself which are Shiho-chan's legacy-give them to her when she becomes a woman." The woman pulled out a third scroll. "Here. It has her extra clothing and a couple toys." Finally, she pulled out several tessen. They had what Hermione presumed was the Namikaze mon in their handles and she realized that they had probably been part of her dowry or weapons she'd taken with her when she'd married. "These are for Shiho. I've not yet taught her to use them."

"I'll make sure she learns," said Hermione. "And I will keep these safe for Shiho-chan." Hermione cleared her throat. "I'm a civilian, not a kunoichi. And I don't think I'm comfortable with the idea of sending her to the Ninja Academy. I'd rather raise her as a civilian and either arrange for an apprenticeship when she's eleven or teach her myself."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably under Amami's narrow eyed look, but refused to buckle. Finally the woman nodded. "That is acceptable, but you will ensure she marries a shinobi."

"I-alright," agreed Hermione. "If she wants, when she's old enough, presuming that I pass my Impossible Task, I'll allow her to attempt her own."

"Good." Amami cleared her throat. "Shiho-chan doesn't speak much. Not anymore."

"Mental trauma or shyness?"

"A bit of both."

She nodded her understanding. "I understand; Shiho will speak when she's ready and not a moment before. There's no use trying to force words out of her." She motioned. "Why don't you take the time to say goodbye to Shiho-chan and explain what's happening. Itachi-san and I will wait here."

Hermione remained seated as Amami picked up the child and walked down the path. The woman was at a place in the curve where Hermione and Itachi could see them, but far enough that they could not be heard.

"Did you just adopt that child?" demanded Itachi.

"Yes and no. I simultaneously became her foster mother and brought her into the Namikaze Clan." Hermione took a shuddering breath. "Among my people, it's understood that the matriarch of a clan, or the mother, or the female blood relative responsible for caring for a child may give it to a kinswoman of a different clan if they can no longer care for the child. Though it's generally only girls this is done to." At the look on Itachi's face which Hermione took to mean he didn't understand, she gave an example. "Sometimes Clan A simply can't afford for the dowry and schooling of one of their female children so they give the girl to… let's say Clan B, who can afford to care for her, because the child's mother or grandmother was a member of Clan B. But the custom can only be carried out by a woman of a clan. I'm relatively sure I'm the only female Namikaze with _magic_ who's not in a hospital right now. I couldn't turn her away. It's not just that turning them away would be dishonorable and an admittance that I wasn't really ready for my Impossible Task, it's also that they're family. You don't turn family away in their time of need when you have the ability to help them. You just don't."

Hermione shrugged. "I'm going to see ask my mother and father to care for Shiho for me while I'm at school. She's family, I'm relatively sure they'll agree. And if not, Andy-basan and her husband might be willing."

"And if they're not?"

"I don't… I don't know," she admitted. "But I keep thinking back to what you said about Kiri purging those with kekkei genkai yesterday and I just… I just can't leave her to be found by the hunter-nin. I can't."

"And Suikazan-san?"

"She's dying. Among my people, in the elderly it's relatively common for them to suffer sudden and acute liver failure. Something about how our bodies work. Judging by her jaundice, she's beyond any real medical help, other than maybe some pain killers. She'll be dead within the month no matter what I do or don't do and if she wants to go down fighting, I'm going to respect her wishes."

She bit her lip. "Is this… is this going to change anything about your mission?"

"No, it's won't. I'll protect her as well as you."

Hermione gave him a shy smile. "Thank you." She glanced down at her lap and then back up again as something occurred to her. "Should I change her clothing? I know you were trying to get me to fit a certain image and her yukata is…"

"Could your _magic_ repair her yukata and clean it?"

"Sure. You can't do it more than once or twice, but you can use _magic_ to repair clothing. Should I change the pattern or the material of the cloth as well?" Hermione shrugged. "I'd prefer to give her a bath, but I can clean the worst of the dirt off her as well. It's easy enough."

"That should work. A small child would not be dressed as well or as formally as an elder relative."

"Yes, but there would be a basic level of quality expected in the materials."

Itachi nodded, then tensed just slightly. Amami and Shiho walked back over to them. Shiho seemed shell shocked, like she couldn't believe this was happening and Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl. But there was really nothing to be done.

"Hi, Shiho-chan, I'm Hermione-neesan and this is Itachi-san," she explained. "Itachi-san and I are on our way to speak to Jiraiya-ojisan."

Shiho blinked at her. It was probably the best Hermione could expect at the moment. The poor girl probably felt like she was being abandoned with strangers.

Amami knelt down and hugged Shiho tightly, giving the girl a kiss on the forehead. "Goodbye."

And then Amami stood. Hermione put a hand on Shiho's shoulder when she realized what Amami intended. Amami gave a half twirl and disapparated. There was a split second when Shiho would have returned to the ordinary road before Hermione forced her magic to envelop the child in the spell which she and Itachi were under. Hermione half stumbled, then straightened herself. The amount of magic required had startled her a little.

While Shiho was looking the other way, Hermione pulled out her wand and waved it. It was a simple matter to repair her cotton yukata and obi. It took a little more to up the thread count of the weave, making the cloth softer and finer.

"Shiho-chan, I need to change the color of your yukata," Hermione explained. "Is there anything you want on it or any color?"

Shiho blinked at her, and then pointed to some wild flowers.

"Butterflies and flowers?" Hermione asked.

The girl nodded. Another wave of the wand and Shiho's yukata was now pale with white flowers and multicolored butterflies. The obi was changed so that it had a simple, repeating pattern of lines.

"Now, this is going to tickle," said Hermione, before cleaning the girl with a simple spell. "There we go." Her hair was in a simple long braid and she decided it was neat enough for the moment. "Here, hold my hand and we'll get going."

Nearly thirty minutes later Itachi had Hermione drop the _all paths are one_ technique as they were roughly a mile from the city. Hermione kept tight hold of Shiho as they moved to one said to avoid being run over by a group of samurai. Then the trio continued on until they came to a walled city that had sprouted up around a walled castle. Once more, Hermione was struck by just how small these cities were compared to what she was used to. It looked more like a large town than a city to her.

It didn't take long for them to find their way to a gate. She and Shiho hung back as Itachi spoke to the guards. Hermione caught enough of what he said to realize he'd referred to her as Hermione-himesama. He'd said something about escorting her and her "younger sister" to a visit with an aunt.

Itachi paid more attention to their surroundings than to Hermione or Shiho, but he listened to Hermione's softly spoken directions. Although he actually seemed to let out an aggravated sigh when they arrived at some sort of bar. Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to go into the bar-or at least that she wanted to take Shiho into the bar. But she couldn't leave Shiho outside, who knew what might happen to the girl.

"Lovely. I suppose we might as well head in."

Itachi grunted, clearly as annoyed by this as she was.

Hermione resisted the urge to let out a groan when the three of them entered the bar. It was worse than the one she'd found Tenzo in. And there appeared to be prostitutes lounging around speaking to men. This was so wrong. She couldn't bring Shiho in here. Hell, she shouldn't even be in here. But there was nothing for it.

Gathering her courage Hermione marched over to the booth the pull from her necklace was coming from. There was a white haired man with red lines painted on his face and some sort of metal plate around his face like the one Tenzo favored. His long hair was wild and messy like Hermione's hair was when she brushed it out when it was dry. The man's eyes were the same shade of brown as her own and for a moment, she faltered. Then she cleared her throat, giving the prostitute on either side of the man she could only presume was Jiraiya her best, McGonagall inspired glare.

"Shoo," said Hermione, holding Shiho close. "Jisan and I need to talk."

There was this feeling that almost scared Hermione and it took her a moment to realize it came from Itachi. How was he projecting that feeling of disquiet? She supposed she'd have to ask him later. At least it wasn't aimed at her or Shiho. That would have been unpleasant, judging by how scared the prostitutes looked.

"Now, what'd you have to go and do that for?" complained Jiraiya as the women all but ran from the booth.

"I should think you would know, Jiraiya-ojisan," said Hermione. "Or should I call you otousan?"

In a moment what Hermione could only presume was a mask dropped and the man became deadly serious. "Why would you think something like that?"

"I'm not stupid." Hermione ushered Shiho into the booth and plopped down next to the girl. After a moment, Itachi sat down next to her. "I should think having both _magic_ and mokutan would be a big clue. Of course, Hatake-san and his ninken confirmed my suspicions." She spoke more confidently that she really felt. She was half afraid that if she showed any signs of weakness Jiraiya would pounce.

"Why are you here? I made Laodice-nee swear to never let you on this side of the mists," said Jiraiya.

"Yeah, well, she wasn't the one who sent me. Baasan is. She wants to talk to you."

"Tell okaasan that it was a good try, but I'm not returning to Japan."

"She's dying. Terminal cancer. When I left they said she had only weeks to live. That was eight days ago. Her dying wish is for you to come and speak to her. She's your mother, would you deny her that?" she demanded.

* * *

Author's Notes, Continued: Now, I have reasons for my inclusion of Shiho. Yes, it is too much responsibility for a twelve, almost thirteen year old, as both Hermione and Itachi well know. Amami, however, was raised in a society where girls were essentially considered adults when they were old enough to start menstruating and married off not long after. To her, twelve is a little young, but not unreasonably so. Likewise, judging by what we see in the manga, in the elemental countries children as young as ten or eleven are living on their own and expected to be capable of taking care of themselves. It stands to reason that they would be expected to care for younger siblings as well. Hermione honestly believes that she can foist Shiho off on her parents or her aunt just because the girl is a blood relation. And in all honesty, she's probably right. Probably.

And on a lighter note. I added the Strip Pinochle Tournament because I thought Lily needed something to be remembered for beyond being the quintesential perfect mother. Something a little wild and a little crazy. And I know Tonks technically graduated the year before Hermione and Harry began school, but I wanted to add her so just presume she's a couple months younger than she really is.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Yes, little Shiho is indeed the Shiho seen in Shippuden who had a crush on Shikamaru. I figured she's a character we knew almost nothing about and therefore safe to add history to.

Alright, now some people have requested a family tree for Hermione. I'll try to clear up the confusion. Essentially, it began with Namikaze Sorami, who was from the elemental countries. She and her aunt, Amami were the only members of the Namikaze Clan to survive the wars between the various shinobi clans that led to the foundation of the shinobi villages. Amami married into the Suikazan Clan and Sorami went to another world and ended up in Japan, where she married a man with the surname Mori. Sorami and her husband had a daughter, Mori Megumi, who married the elder Dolohov son. Megumi and her husband had four children; Laodice, who married Jack Granger, Jiraiya, who ran off to the elemental countries to become a ninja when he was a child, Hermione, Jiraiya's twin sister, and Andromache, who married Kenta Matsuo. The younger Dolohov son (who was the father of Antonin Dolohov) murdered his elder brother and his niece, Hermione, and was eventually executed. Anyway, Jiraiya fathered Minato on Tsunade and then wandered off somewhere while Tsunade raised the boy alone until Jiraiya became Minato's Jonin-sensei. After Dan died, Jiraiya and Tsunade had three more children; Yamato, who presumably was murdered by Iwa nin, Tobi, who died when Hermione was nine, and Hermione. Tobi and Hermione were hidden away from Jiraiya and Tsunade's enemies by being given to Jack and Laodice Granger to raise as their own.

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

"Who's the brat?" asked Jiraiya, ignoring Hermione's statement altogether.

"Apparently Sorami-obaasan had an aunt who survived," said Hermione, deciding to humor him. "Suikazan-san lived in Kirigakure no Sato until the purges. Shiho-chan here is her great great great granddaughter."

"And she's with you because…"

"She gave me guardianship of Shiho-chan."

"Suikazan-san hunted you down to give Shiho-chan to you, didn't she?" said Itachi.

"Probably," shrugged Hermione. "I've been using the _all paths are one_ _spell_-uh, jutsu, for a good portion of the day for the past six days. There's a technique for sensing both chakra and _magic_ in the scroll baasan gave me. Suikazan-san probably learned it when she was my age."

"You've been telling him clan secrets?" demanded Jiraiya.

"No, I haven't. I told him some basic stuff about the _Wizarding_, such as what we're capable of, but he has no idea about the specifics of any of our clan's _spells_. I'm not that stupid." Hermione shrugged, feeling the need to explain herself, justify her actions. "I just haven't bothered following the _Statute of Secrecy_ since I got to this side of the mists. I haven't exactly been advertising what I am, but Itachi-san has seen me use both mokuton and _magic_, there was no real point in hiding. Anyway, we ran into another team from Konoha day before yesterday and I healed them. I couldn't leave them to suffer just because I thought hiding was more important than their lives. So far as they're concerned the potions and _spells_ I used are clan techniques and Itachi-san backed me up. He's the only one who knows they're more than that."

"How many people know who you are?" asked Jiraiya.

"Um… Hatake-san, his ninken, and probably his wife as well… Itachi-san, obviously, and his cousin Uchiha Shisui-san. I know that uh… somebody named Genma-san has suspicions about me. I ran into him when I found Tenzou-san a couple days ago. They were on the same team and I kind of ate lunch with them… well at the same table as them. And then yesterday he was with the team sent by Konoha and he remembered me, I think. I was using an alias when I saw Tenzou-san."

"Who's Tenzou?"

At this, both Hermione and Itachi stiffened. Hermione pulled her pendant out from under her kimono. Jiraiya looked at the pendant for a moment before nodding. "He's a Konoha shinobi maybe four or five years older than I am. According to my pendant, Tenzou-san is as closely related to me as Minato-niisan. More closely related to me than little Naruto-kun or Tsunade-okaasan or anybody in the Senju graveyard."

"What did you say?" breathed Jiraiya.

"He felt like he was my full sibling," repeated Hermione.

"You're sure?" There was this absolutely gobsmacked look on Jiraiya's face and suddenly, Hermione realized that he and Tsunade had not faked Yamato's death and hidden him as Tenzou, that they had honestly believed the boy was dead.

"Yeah, I am." Hermione pulled out a handkerchief and unsealed the little box that held the kanzashi. She took the scrying mirror out and sealed the box away. Carefully, Hermione activated the mirror and focused in on Tenzou. There was a flash of a couple imaged before it settled on the dark haired teen. "This is Tenzou-san."

Jiraiya stared at the mirror, an intense look of longing and wonder on his face. Gently, he ran his fingers along the image before withdrawing his hand.

He stood, absently straightening his red and green clothing. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Huh?" said Hermione, a little stunned by his abrupt about face.

"I suppose I can spare a little bit of my valuable time to visit okaasan."

"Uh, right. Sure." Hermione quickly sealed up the mirror.

Itachi left the booth and stood, waiting patiently as Hermione and Shiho did the same. Jiraiya tossed some coins on the table and then led the trio out of the bar. They managed to make their way out of the city relatively quickly and away from the road, into a clearing in the forest that surrounding the city. It was then that Hermione stopped short. She gave Itachi an unsure look.

"Is something wrong?" asked Itachi.

"Uh, well, I only really hired you to escort me to find my uncle, and now that I've found him… is your mission over now?"

Jiraiya leaned against a tree, watching Itachi carefully, as if measuring him.

"When you paid, you paid for a month to two months of my services," pointed out Itachi. "Admittedly, the mission is technically complete, but I see no reason why I should not escort you and Shiho-chan to the path that leads to the other side of the mists at the very least. Even taking into account the mercenaries that mistook you for Tsunade-himesama and attempted to kill you, it is balanced out by your healing of Namiashi-san's team."

Hermione smiled, understanding that Itachi wanted to stay, wanted to see this through to the end. "Thanks. I'm already well on my way to being grounded for oh… the rest of my life at the very least anyway, so you're officially invited to come back to Japan with me. I'll make sure you get back to this side of the mists safely." Hermione shrugged. "And hey, you just might get that chance to defend me from my family after all."

Itachi grunted and shook his head in amusement while Jiraiya snorted.

"So, you've been using _all paths are one_ to get around?" said Jiraiya.

"Yeah."

"Right. Kuchiyose no jutsu," he declared, cutting his palm and slamming it on the ground. Hermione blinked and stumbled back a step as an orange and blue toad the size of a minivan appeared. It had several banadages wrapped around it and a beaded necklace with the word loyalty on it. "Hermione-chan, Shiho-chan, this is Gama. Gama, you remember my daughter, Hermione-chan, and this is our cousin on the Namikaze side, Shiho-chan. Hermione-chan is old enough to sign the Toad Summoning Contract."

There was a ribbit followed by the toad putting down a scroll before Hermione. Jiraiya unrolled the scroll and motioned toward the space next to the name Namikaze Minato with a handprint under it. Hermione's eyes widened as she realized her brother had signed his name in blood.

"I'm left handed, should I use my left or my right hand?" she asked. There were half a dozen names visible, each with the clan name Namikaze. Though as the scroll was only partially unrolled, Hermione presumed there were more.

"Left," said Gama.

"Okay then. Uhm… kunai?" She accepted the kunai handed to her by Itachi and cut open her left pointer finger. She signed her name neatly before covering her hand with blood and leaving a handprint behind. She cleaned her hand and the kunai before handing the kunai back to Itachi. "So, now what?"

"There are handseals that go with it, but you've been learning to do _magic _without a wand, right?" said Jiraiya. At her nod, he continued. "What you need to do to summon a toad is cut your hand-either one-because the jutsu needs a drop or two of blood, gather your _magic_ in the hand you're using, and release it into the ground with the words kuchiyose no jutsu. The more _magic_, the bigger the toad. When you get better at it, you can do it without the words and pick out which toad you summon by feel."

"Okay. That seems simple enough," agreed Hermione. "Should I do it now?"

"Go for it."

Hermione gathered magic in her palm-about as much as she'd use to put both herself and Itachi under the effects of the _all paths are one_ spell and slammed her hand into the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Suddenly she rose ten feet in the air. "Eep!" she screeched, hanging on to some cloth that had appeared underneath her.

"Jiraiya, why have you summoned me?" demanded the thing she was sitting on.

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am," said Hermione. It sounded female, so she decided to address it as if it were a woman. "I'm the one who summoned you. Jiraiya-o… otousan just had me sign the summoning contract."

"Who are you?"

Itachi walked up a tree sideways in an amazing display of disregard for the laws of gravity and held out his hands to Hermione, gently picking her up. He walked back down and placed her before the rather pretty blue toad. She mumbled her thanks to Itachi before examining the toad. Hermione blinked, a little stunned by the necklaces and haori the toad wore and the eyelashes. Since when did toads have eyelashes?

"I'm Namikaze Hermione, although I use the name Hermione Granger most of the time," she said. "Jiraiya-otousan is my father."

"I'm Ruka, Gama's wife."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," said Hermione. "So, uh, what exactly does a toad summons do, anyway? Nobody really explained."

Shiho giggled at Hermione's words, the first sound she'd made since Hermione had met the girl. Hermione turned to look at the five year old, who announced, "Summons fight with you in battle, silly."

"I suppose it must seem rather silly that I don't know that Shiho-chan," admitted Hermione. "But I grew up as a civilian and I've never even heard of a summons before."

"Right, you two can get to know each other later. Right now, the four of us need to get going to the other side of the mists. Would one of you carry Hermione-chan and Shiho-chan? The Uchiha and I are going to tree hop."

"I will," said Gama.

"Thank you, Gama-san," said Hermione. "And I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, Ruka-san."

"It's fine. Summon me anytime. It's been nearly half a century since we last had a female summoner," said Ruka before she disappeared with a pop and a puff of smoke.

"So, how do we do this?" asked Hermione.

"Just hold on to the bandages and speak up if you feel like you're slipping," said her father.

Jiraiya gently lifted Hermione and placed her on Gama's back. A moment later he placed Shiho on the toad in front of Hermione. She shifted until she was sitting on Gama's back in the same manner as a woman riding a horse side saddle. She helped Shiho point her legs to Gama's right side as Hermione's were draped over Gama's left, then she put her hands on either side of Shiho and grabbed hold of the bandage wrapped around Gama's chest.

"Shiho-chan, you need to hold on as well," said Hermione. She waited until Shiho had a secure hold before saying, "We're as ready as we're every going to be."

Under her, Gama tensed, and then jumped. It was rather like riding the most terrifying roller coaster ever. Part of her was terrified she was going to fall off, but it was still better than riding a broom. After the first twenty minutes Hermione found herself enjoying the ride and laughing along with Shiho. Apparently the little girl loved riding a giant toad as it hopped up and then back down mountains.

Out of the corner of her eyes she caught the occasional glimpse of Jiraiya and Itachi, who were leaping through trees at speeds Hermione's could barely follow. How they could keep this pace up for hours at a time, Hermione didn't know. Chakra was the only answer she could think of. It simply wasn't possible for a normal human to do such punishing exercise. She couldn't help but be impressed.

Around noon they stopped and Hermione passed out the onigiri she'd made with breakfast. She'd made sixteen this time, which unfortunately wasn't enough for everybody. For lack of a better idea she unsealed some apples and bananas.

"So, why are you doing this?" asked Jiraiya.

"Baasan asked. And, well, she said that she'd give me the scrolls on _necromancy_ if I succeeded in bringing you back," she explained. "I didn't expect her to give me the scrolls on healing and how to use _wandless magic_ just for agreeing to try."

"I should have known she'd give you an Impossible Task," grumbled Jiraiya.

"What's necro… uh…" said Itachi.

"_Necromancy_. And you and Shiho-chan need to forget you've ever even heard the term," said Hermione. "It's forbidden to have anything to do with a _necromancer_; somebody who practices the art of _necromancy_, and actually practicing _necromancy_ is a death sentence."

"A _necromancer _deals with ghosts and lays them to rest. Proper _necromancers_ also are responsible for hunting down and killing people who misuse the art. It, along with healing, are our people's oldest art," said Jiraiya. "And Hermione-chan's right. If anybody finds out that she knows a _necromancer_ and is trying to prove herself worthy of learning the art, our people will kill her. Slowly."

Hermione shrugged. "A couple people pervert _necromancy_ and suddenly it's illegal."

"Why do you want to learn it if it can get you executed?" demanded Itachi.

"_Voldemort_-he was the leader of the _pureblood_ extremists during the civil war-did something to himself using what baasan thinks is _necromancy_. He didn't die killing Lily and James Potter like everybody thinks he did. And almost nobody knows that he's back. I have to… I have to do something to stop him before he starts the war up again. It would destroy us." She looked Itachi in the eye, almost begging him to understand that she had been backed into a corner by Voldemort, that she was desperate.

Itachi nodded and Hermione felt herself sag in relief. He understood. Maybe not entirely, but he understood.

* * *

Hermione let out a yawn as she made breakfast. They were only ten minutes from the path that led to the other side of the mists, so Hermione had chosen to forgo a kimono or yukata. Instead she'd dressed in white leggings, black boots, and a drop waisted denim jumper dress with a pleated skirt with a pink t-shirt underneath. Her long hair had been washed and braided.

Next to her was her first attempt at transfiguring children's clothing. A yukata or kimono would have been too unusual for such an obviously European child, so Hermione had taken a couple torn socks and a shirt she'd never really liked and made a golden yellow circle skirt and a red t-shirt. Hermione wanted to check that they fit Shiho properly before she packed them away. She'd have Shiho change into the outfit shortly before they reached the little farming community up on the plateau.

Itachi stepped into the camp and blinked. Hermione had known that the boy was up-he and Jiraiya had slept out in the open while Hermione and Shiho had taken the tent-but it was the first time she'd seen him that morning.

"Is something wrong?" asked Hermione. She flipped the fish fillet absently.

"What are you wearing?"

"Huh? This? It's normal clothing back home… Well, sort of. I figured that since we'll be on the path that leads to my world in a little bit, there wasn't much point in wearing a kimono today."

"I've never seen clothing like that," he commented.

"Yeah. I suppose you wouldn't have. My people generally dress more formally, much like you all do in this world. But _Muggle_ society, I guess you'd consider _Muggles_ civilians, wear much different clothing. This is normal _Muggle_ clothing for a girl my age. I like kimono better, but this is easier to move in."

"Oh."

"So, do you want to continue the runes lesson? We have a bit of time before breakfast's ready."

Itachi nodded. They spoke quietly, going over the most commonly used runes. Itachi had explained that even knowing what the runes meant could be important in crisis situations and Hermione had agreed. It made a certain amount of sense. While they spoke she rolled onigiri, this time making enough for everybody. Although she had to use a good portion of her rice to do so. They had just finished analyzing exploding tags-and all the variations thereof that Itachi remembered-when breakfast finished cooking.

Hermione excused herself and went to the tent. She opened the flap and gently shook Shiho awake. "Good morning Shiho-chan." When the girl's eyes were open and she'd finished yawning, Hermione explained, "Come on, we'll eat breakfast and then you'll get dressed for the day."

Once Shiho started to crawl out of the bedroll she'd shared with Hermione the night before, Hermione turned to Itachi. "Could you wake Jiraiya-otousan for me, please?"

Hermione wasn't sure she felt completely comfortable referring to Jiraiya as otousan, but the man was her father after all. Jiraiya, she'd decided, could be called otousan, and Tsunade could be okaasan, but the people who'd raised her would always be Mum and Dad.

Once everybody was around the fire, Hermione served miso soup, rice, and grilled fish to everybody. They were larger than normal portions, but Hermione had no intention of shortchanging herself or the others. Breakfast was a relatively silent affair and ended rather quickly.

When everybody was done and Itachi was cleaning the pots, Hermione picked up the skirt and shirt. "Shiho-chan, I need you to try this on for me."

"What is it?" asked the girl.

"Just a t-shirt and a skirt. We're going to Japan, which is another country. And in Japan, girls where clothing like this, instead of yukata or kimono most of the time."

They went into the tent and Shiho tried on the clothing. While Hermione took in the t-shirt a touch and lengthened the skirt a couple inches, Shiho changed into a yukata. Hermione tied the obi for the girl and then brushed out her long hair. They'd bathed together the night before and Hermione had left Shiho's hair loose so that it would air dry during the night. Hermione ended up tying Shiho's hair into a high tail with a ribbon and then braiding the tail. It was rather hot out and Shiho would probably feel more comfortable if her hair was up off the back of her neck.

When everything was packed away, the four of them headed off to the path. Jiraiya instantly spotted the seal Hermione had left so that she could find it again and shook his head, chuckling slightly.

"What do you intend to do once you finish school?" asked Jiraiya.

Hermione shrugged. "I'm thinking about trying for an _arithmancy_ apprenticeship. I've been studying it recently and… I just love it."

"I'd have thought you'd want a runes apprenticeship."

"Oh no. I like runes well enough, but _arithmancy_ is… well runes just can't compare."

"So who are your friends?"

"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are my best friends and Neville Longbottom is a friend. And I suppose I get along well enough with two of my roommates; Eloise Midgeon and Sally-Anne Perks and Daphne Greengrass-she's one of the _Slytherin_ girls." She glanced at Itachi shyly. "And I'd like to think that Itachi-san is my friend as well."

"I am," he agreed.

Hermione smiled at him.

They spent most of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon traveling in silence. There was something about traveling with Jiraiya that made Hermione suddenly shy. It was one thing to speak so frankly with Itachi when it was just the two of them, another thing entirely when they had an audience. In a fit of annoyance, Hermione had started a game of I Spy with Itachi after lunch and brown beaten Jiraiya into participating. Eventually, even Shiho had started guessing.

Around three or four in the afternoon they actually reached the waterfall that marked where the path began. There Hermione paused, getting something to drink.

"How fast can we get down to the town?" asked Hermione.

"If Itachi and I carried you two, it wouldn't take much more than half an hour or so," said Jiraiya.

"Right. You two, turn around. Shiho-chan needs to change."

Once Itachi and Jiraiya had turned around, Hermione unsealed the shirt and skirt and helped Shiho change. The girl was a bit hesitant about having bare legs, but otherwise fine. Hermione ended up having the girl take her tabi and zori off and replacing them with simple sandals woven from dried reeds using her mokuton. They were sturdy enough for a young girl and wouldn't fall off easily.

"Shiho-chan, come here," Itachi said softly. He knelt and let the girl climb onto his back.

Obviously it would be easier for Itachi to carry Shiho than Hermione. He was only twelve. Even with chakra, Shiho would likely be rather heavy for him. Once Hermione climbed onto Jiraiya's back, the duo set out, leaping into the trees. It was actually better than riding on Gama because she had a more secure hold and Jiraiya didn't leap as high or as far.

The forest went by in a blur and they landed near the edge of the little town. Jiraiya asked her for directions to the clinic and the zoomed off again. Hermione would have enjoyed it, but this was far too serious an occasion for such frivolity.

At the entrance to the clinic, Hermione slipped off Jiraiya's back and gently took Shiho's hand once Itachi let her go. "Follow me."

She led them into the clinic. At the entrance, she saw the nurse. "Nakamura-san, this is my uncle, Jiraiya-ojisan, and my cousin Shiho-chan. They're here to see baasan."

"You can head back," said the nurse. She seemed to be staring at Itachi and Jiraiya like they had two heads, but was otherwise unperturbed. "Your mother and aunt were here this morning and they're supposed to return tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, ma'am."

They walked down the hall until they reached a closed door. Hermione knocked, waited until a voice called for her to enter and then opened the door.

Megumi looked at Hermione first, before she turned to stare at Jiraiya, ignoring both Itachi and Shiho entirely. Eventually she turned back to Hermione.

"It seems you've succeeded where I'd failed so many times before," Megumi said to Hermione. "Thank you. Hermione-chan, perhaps you should go see Lao-chan and Jack-kun. They've been rather worried about you. I'll make sure that Andy-chan knows you've completed your Task and gives you the scrolls."

"Baasan-"

"Hermione-chan, do what okaasan says," ordered Jiraiya, though he looked displeased by the way Megumi had dismissed her. "You can come back in the morning to visit. You're staying with Andy-chan and her husband, right? Tell her I'll be there for dinner."

"Yes sir."

The trio left the clinic quietly. At the curb, Itachi asked, "How far is it?"

"Five blocks." At least Itachi recognized she didn't want to talk at the moment. Harry and Ron wouldn't have noticed her mood.

Itachi swung Shiho into his arms and balanced the child on one hip. Shiho was probably exhausted by now and it only made sense for him to carry her. He seemed a little shell shocked by the buildings and the various cars and busses. But he resolutely refused to act like some country bumpkin, something that Hermione could appreciate.

She opened the gate to the small yard and led Itachi up to the house. "Andy-basan? I'm back," she called out, opening the door.

As Hermione was untying her boots, Andy walked into the hallway. "How did it go?"

"He's talking to baasan right now," she explained. "He said he'd be back in time for dinner. Uhm… Andy-basan, this is my friend, Uchiha Itachi-san, he's the shinobi I hired in Konohagakure no Sato to guard me. And this is Namikaze Shiho-chan. Guys, this is my aunt, Kenta Andromache."

"Namikaze? Is she…"

"Her great great great grandmother was a Namikaze before she married into the Suikazan Clan." She glanced at Itachi. "Could you watch Shiho-chan for a moment? I need to talk to my mother and Andy-bachan."

"Of course," said Itachi.

"Here," Hermione reached into her backpack and unsealed a doll and a ball. "The back yard is much bigger. Why don't you take her back there and play something?"

Itachi nodded, taking the offered toys. She blinked and he'd disappeared back out the door. She wasn't sure that she liked shinobi moving that fast unless they were taking her with them. It was a bit disconcerting to watch. Then again, his speed probably helped him stay alive in a very dangerous line of work.

A moment later Andy swept her into the kitchen where her mother sat, nursing a cup of tea. The woman was silent, staring into the distance pensively.

"Mum, I'm back," Hermione said softly.

"Never do that again," Laodice ordered softly. "If you're going to run off for days at a time to complete an Impossible Task or some other quest, tell me. Don't just leave me a note. It's not acceptable."

"Yes Mum. I'm sorry. I just… I thought you'd stop me if I told you beforehand."

"I am not some Muggle raised woman. I know how important an Impossible Task is," scolded Laodice. "How did it go?"

"I did it. Jiraiya-otousan is speaking with baasan right now," said Hermione, telling her mother, with one word, that she knew everything. "Um… I need to tell you something."

"Yes?" said her mother

"I had a bit of a run in with my great great great aunt, on the Namikaze side yesterday. She was in the middle of acute liver failure and being chased by hunter-nin." Hermione spoke quickly, half afraid that if she slowed down, she'd never tell them. "She had her great great great granddaughter Shiho-chan with her. She asked me to foster Shiho-chan. I-she was dying. She wanted her only surviving descendant to go to family who knew about magic and could teach her. I couldn't say no. I tried to tell her I was twelve but she kept insisting that by agreeing to baasan's Task I'd declared myself a woman and she was right and Shiho-chan is family and I couldn't just abandon the girl."

"Stop," ordered Laodice, before she babbled even more. "You agreed to foster this little girl who is how old?"

"Five." Hermione held out her scarred palm. The scar had healed into a rune, rather than a straight line, but Hermione had expected that. It was a symbol that a magically binding oath was in place. "I was hoping that either one of you, or maybe Jiraiya-otousan or Tenzou-san could take her in."

"Who is Tenzou?" asked Andy.

"He's my brother. My full brother according to the seals I've been using. But there's some sort of confusion about who he really is. He's maybe fifteen or sixteen or seventeen, I think. And a shinobi of Konoha."

"Does Jiraiya-nii know?" asked Andy.

"Yeah. I told him and showed him Tenzou-san in the scrying mirror."

Andy and Laodice exchanged a glance before Laodice said, "Your Dad and I will take Shiho-chan in. I'll get Jiraiya-niisan to go forge some papers for her."

"You'll need to say she's a cousin from the Namikaze side of the family that you got custody of," pointed out Andy. "Your neighbors know you don't have a five year old and who knows how the British Wizarding community will take her sudden appearance."

Laodice nodded her agreement. "Now, what was your agreement with Suikazan-san?"

"I make sure she receives training in how to use her magic once she reaches eleven, and I give her an Impossible Task for the privilege of learning the Old Ways once she's old enough. Oh, and she agreed to let Shiho-chan be raised as a civilian instead of a kunoichi, but I have to make sure she marries a shinobi." Hermione took out the appropriate scrolls. "Here, this is all Shiho-chan's stuff. Her dowry, clothing, the Suikazan clan spells and jutsu, and Suikazan-san's tessen. I'm supposed to make sure that Shiho-chan learns tessenjutsu as well."

"That's all reasonable," said Laodice. "Hm. If the Wizarding ask, we'll tell them the truth; Shiho-chan was given to Hermione to foster because my siblings and I are squibs and Hermione is the only witch in the family other than okaasan."

"Maybe you should write a letter to Hermione's school to make sure this won't be a problem. Be proactive so that they have no excuse to penalize her for not telling them about Shiho-chan or Hermione-chan taking the Impossible Task," suggested Andy. "Say that Hermione-chan did the Task to gain the right to learn the family spells and that she had to take the Task at such a young age because her grandmother was in the hospital and would die well before Hermione-chan is of age."

"Um, Professor McGonagall is both my Head of House and the Deputy Headmistress," volunteered Hermione. "She'd probably be the best person to write."

"I'll get started on a letter," said Laodice.

"Hermione-chan," said Andy. "Why don't you take Itachi-kun and Shiho-chan to the market and pick up some groceries. We need some extra food if everybody is going to be fed tonight. You'll have to share a futon with Shiho-chan-"

"That's alright. I had to share a sleeping bag with her last night as well."

"Alright. And tell your friend that I'll set up futons for him and Jiraiya in the living room this evening."

"Sure."

Andy wrote out a quick list and gave that, along with some yen to Hermione before sending the girl on her way. Hermione slipped the list and the yen in the pocket of her dress and went into the backyard, where Itachi was playing some sort of football like game with the girl. Hermione was grateful Itachi had agreed to watch the little girl. It would have been wrong to let Shiho listen to her own future being debated.

Hermione gave them a shy smile, "Well, Andy-basan has asked for us to go to the market for her. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," said Itachi.

"So…" said Hermione, leading them out of the yard and out onto the street. "It turns out that _Mum_-that means kaasan in English-is more upset that I ran off to complete an Impossible Task without telling her and left a note than that I went to complete the task."

"Are you in trouble?" asked Shiho.

"I'm not sure," shrugged Hermione. "But it's not that big a deal. I was expecting to get into trouble anyway. That reminds me, Shiho-chan, you're going to be living with me and my parents."

"Oh." Shiho fell silent and Hermione couldn't help but wonder if her somewhat blunt statement had caused the little girl to withdraw back into her shell.

"So, I'm not really sure what level of technology the elemental countries are at," said Hermione. Might as well get Shiho and Itachi somewhat acclimated. "But advanced technology is much more common here. If you don't recognize something, ask me-discreetly-and I'll try to answer your questions."

"What are those lights at the street corners for?" asked Itachi.

Hermione spent much of the trip to and from the market explaining things like traffic lights and automobiles. Apparently while they had some technology, it was simply so expensive to make and maintain-powered by lightening jutsu instead of electricity-that only the various daimyos, shinobi villages, some of the nobles, and rarely a samurai or two could afford it. In Konoha, they used security cameras for obvious reasons and teams could requisition radios if the situation called for it. There was even a D-Rank-the apparently infamous Tora Mission-where the Genin teams were given a set of radios so that they could familiarize themselves with the technology.

It was going well until they began their walk back from the market and Shiho motioned to a TV playing some sort of movie about Yakuza-judging by the number of guns and the tattoos-that Hermione found herself afraid of relating knowledge. "It's nothing," she said quickly. "It's-we should get back to the house. Andy-basan needs this food to make us dinner."

Hermione gave the groceries to Andy and introduced Shiho to Laodice. Her mother swept Shiho out of the room, talking the entire time.

"Andy-basan, Itachi-san and are going to head out to the forest. He's going to help me practice wandless magic."

"Have fun you two," said Andy, not even bothering to leave the kitchen. "Just be back in about two hours."

Itachi was silent during their two block walk to the edge of town. The Kenta home was on the outskirts of town, near the clinic. She knew that Itachi was watching her, but refused to speak, to answer the questions she was sure he had until they were someplace private. She led him to a small clearing she'd found a week and a half earlier.

Not giving herself time to think about what she was doing, Hermione unhooked the suspender like straps of her dress. She allowed the apron like front of the dress to fall to her waist. Thankfully the dress was just tight enough around the hips that it didn't fall down. Itachi froze, giving her this lost, wide eyed look. Before he could turn around or say something, Hermione pulled up her t-shirt so that her stomach was visible.

"What caused that?" He demanded, his fingers trailing along the old white scar tissue just under her bra on the left side. Itachi looked at her back long enough to see the far larger scar from the exit wound. "I've never seen scarring like that before."

"You wouldn't have," said Hermione, pushing her t-shirt back down and then doing her dress back up. "It's a bullet wound."

She sat down on the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs. "What Shiho-chan asked about… it's called gun. It's a type of firearm. Like a miniature cannon. Its ammunition is called a bullet."

"What happened?" Itachi asked gently.

"I should have died. Any _Muggle_-what my people call those who have no _magic_-would have died. But my _magic_ saved me. It healed my internal injuries enough that I was still alive when they got me to a hospital. But it's kind of hard to heal yourself when your brain was shredded by a bullet," she said bitterly. "According to Mum, it was probably a kindness that Tobi died instantly. She said, she said that Tobi would probably have had brain damage or worse if the bullet had hit her a couple inches in any direction.

"It was my fault, you know."

"Hermione-san-"

"It was my fault," she insisted. "We were only supposed to go to the park, but I wanted a cookie, so we went to this _coffee_ shop a block away. Tobi… Tobi used to love their lemonade. Tobi had just been accepted to _Hogwarts_-the school of _magic _I attend-and we were trying to do as much together as we could because she was going to be gone ten months out of the year."

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's alright. I've told you everything else, why not this as well?" She rested her head on her knees. "There were these men. They kept fidgeting and looking back, it's obvious they were drugged to the gills, but I was nine. I didn't know. We were on line and one of the men bumped into me. And I saw… I saw his gun and I was so scared. And then one of the tables exploded and it startled the men and then they had their guns out and they started shooting. I remember being hit by a bullet and I remember laying on the ground, watching my sister's blood and brains drip out of her skull and I remember listening to people scream and the gun go off again and again and again.

"A couple other people survived, but I was the only one not to have debilitating injuries. Those men had come there intending to rob the place and instead, because of my fear and my _magic_, fourteen people are dead and five will never be the same again."

"It's not your fault," Itachi said softly. "You said it yourself, you were too young to even begin to learn to control your _magic_. It's not possible for you to know that they wouldn't have done the same if not for your actions."

"Itachi-san-"

"I was seven when I became a Genin. My Jonin-sensei decided to wait four months instead of the normal one to two months to take our first C-Rank mission because of my age," he said. "We were assigned to hunt down a rabid wolf that had been terrorizing a small village on the coast. My team found the wolf after a day of tracking it through the woods. We eventually killed the wolf, but not before Aiko-chan, our teammate, was bitten. Hizashi-sensei slit her throat once she lost coherency. There is no treatment for rabies and he said it was kinder to put her out of her misery than to allow her to die of the disease. A month later Hizashi-sensei committed seppuku. My last surviving teammate, Yasahiro-kun chose to commit suicide by mission a week before we would have been assigned to new teams. I am the only surviving member of my first Genin team. And there have been times when I've wondered what would have happened had I been a little faster, a little stronger."

"I used to be so adventurous, you know. There was nothing I wouldn't try once or twice. I was always getting into trouble or doing something I shouldn't. Tobi and I never should have been in the coffee shop to begin with. And after… for a long time I was obsessed with doing what I was told, with being the best. I finished my secondary education six years early."

"Secondary?"

"Most countries on this side of the mists have compulsory education from when a child is four or five until they're seventeen or eighteen. Primary school is for students roughly four to ten or eleven years old and secondary for twelve to eighteen. The teachers kept moving me up a year every couple of weeks until I ended up sitting for my A-Levels, the exams universities use when they're deciding whether or not to take a student. It's the last set of exams for a student in secondary. My grades were better than the national average."

"When I was first assigned to Shikaku-sensei's team, he had to recruit my teammates, Kotetsu-kun and Izumo-kun to keep me from training too hard or for too long."

"At least they cared enough to try. Ron tries to use me to do his homework for him and Harry has enough problems of his own. He doesn't need mine as well." She paused, considering whether or not it was wise, before asking, "I understand if you don't want to explain, but what does suicide by mission mean, exactly?"

"Some choose to take more and more difficult missions until they are killed by an enemy, others choose to allow the enemy to fell them. Yasahiro-kun chose the latter." A moment later he asked, "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Refer to people without honorifics."

Itachi wanted to change the subject, it seemed. Hermione decided to allow him to do so. This had to be as painful a subject for him as Tobi was for her.

"Oh that. In the English language, names are placed in front of the name, rather than after. And it's inappropriate to add an honorific to a friend's name unless it's part of a pet name…"


End file.
